BASIDIFFERQUINONE, A NEW INDUCER FOR FRUITING-BODY FORMATION OF A BASIDIOMYCETES FAVOLUS-ARCULARIUS FROM A STREPTOMYCES STRAIN .1. SCREENING AND ISOLATION

Screening was carried out of the inducers for the. fruiting-body formation in a basidiomycetes Favolus arcularius from microbial metabolites. Streptomyces strain 8-412 similar to Streptmyces ruhiginosus was isolated from the soil as the producer of a substance which the induced the formation of incomplete fruiting bodies or stipes without pileus of F. arcularius under dark conditions. The active substance was extracted from the supernatant of the cultured medium with ethyl acetate in the acidic pH range and purified by successive chromatography as orange crystals, having its degradation point of > 245-255°C. The absorption spectrum in a neutral methanol solution showed peaks at 211, 242, 270, 341 and 430 nm, which changed depending on the. pH value. The active. substance, named basidifferquinone, induced stipe formation in F. arcularius at 3 ngfml, which corresponds to 6.9 x 10-9 M, and the resulting stipes completed differentiation to form pileus upon successive photoirradiation. © 1990 by the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. All rights reserved.