Notatin: an Anti-bacterial Glucose-aerodehydrogenase from Penicillium notatum Westling

Abstract

IT has been shown¹ that when a selected strain of Penicillium notatum Westling is grown on a Czapek-Dox medium an anti-bacterial substance is produced which differs in the majority of its properties from penicillin^2,3,4. This anti-bacterial substance was originally named 'Penicillin A', but in order to avoid confusion with penicillin we now prefer the name 'notatin'. This substance is isolated by concentrating the culture filtrate to approximately one fifth of its volume under mild conditions and precipitating the concentrate with acetone or by producing a complex with tannic acid from which notatin is regenerated by extracting the tannic acid with acetone⁵. The crude substance can be purified further by regeneration from the complexes which it forms with tannic acid and with Reinecke salt. The average yield of purified notatin is 3–4 gm. from 100 litres of culture filtrate.