Improved Production, and Purification of Aclacinomycin A from Streptomyces lavendofoliae DKRS

An anthracycline antibiotic, aclacinomycin A (aclarubicin), was produced from a mutant strain of Streptomyces lavendofoliae. The mutant strain which showed a 4-fold higher productivity of aclacinomycin A compared with the parent strain was also found to produce a significantly higher amount of aclacinomycin A than the reported production strain, Streptomyces galilaeus. The aclacinomycin A was produced up to 125 mg/l using potato starch and soybean meal as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, on a 3 liter scale fermentation in a 5 liter jar fermentor. The mutant strain also produced significant amount of aclacinomycins Band Y. Aclacinomycin A was isolated from the culture broth by solvent extractions and further purified by silica gel column chromatography. The yield of aclacinomycin A with over 99$%$ purity was found to be over 60$%$ starting from 3 liters of culture broth.