A Peptide Antibiotic AMRSA1 Active against Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Produced by Streptomyces sp. HW-003

The antibiotic-producing strain HW-003 was screened from soil and found to be effective against the multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The spore chain of HW-003 was retinaculiaperti, and the spore surface was spiny. Strain HW-003 has a LL-diaminopimelic acid isoform in the cell wall. The aerial mass color of the strain was gray, and the reverse side was yellow-brown. The strain produced melanin, but did not produce soluble pigments. According to the Taxon program, HW-003 showed best match with Streptomyces cyaneus. Antibiotic production reached a maximum after 72-h cultivation. The antibiotic was purified with silica gel column chromatography, octadecylsilyl column chromatography, and HPLC. The purified antibiotic, AMRSA1, showed strong inhibitory activity against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and gram-positive bacteria. The molecular weight of AMRSA1 was about 1, 100. AMRSA1 was a peptide antibiotic containing alanine and serine.