streptomyces

[strep-tuh-mahy-seez]

noun

Bacteriology.

plural

streptomyces 

1. any of several aerobic bacteria of the genus Streptomyces, certain species of which produce antibiotics.

Word History and Origins

Origin of streptomyces¹

< New Latin (1943), equivalent to strepto- strepto- + Greek mýkēs mushroom, fungus

Example Sentences

Co-lead author Dr. Lona Alkhalaf, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, said: "Remarkably, the bacterium that makes methylenomycin A and pre-methylenomycin C lactone -- Streptomyces coelicolor -- is a model antibiotic-producing species that's been studied extensively since the 1950s. Finding a new antibiotic in such a familiar organism was a real surprise."

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Researchers have discovered toxic protein particles, shaped like umbrellas, that soil bacteria known as Streptomyces secrete to squelch competitors, especially others of their own species.

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Streptomyces' chemical weaponry against their competitors is one of the richest sources of such molecules.

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What makes these newly detected antibacterial toxins different is that, unlike the Streptomyces' small-molecule antibiotics, umbrella toxins are large complexes composed of multiple proteins.

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The authors of the Nature paper speculate that these properties of umbrella toxins explain why they escaped discovery for more than 100 years of research on toxins produced by Streptomyces.

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