Streptomyces clavuligerus

Streptomyces clavuligerus is a species of Gram-positive bacterium notable for producing clavulanic acid.^[1]

Streptomyces clavuligerus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Bacillati
Phylum:	Actinomycetota
Class:	Actinomycetia
Order:	Streptomycetales
Family:	Streptomycetaceae
Genus:	Streptomyces
Species:	S. clavuligerus
Binomial name
Streptomyces clavuligerus Higgens & Kastner 1971

S. clavuligerus ATCC 27064 (NRRL 3585, DSM 738) was first described by Higgens and Kastner (1971), who isolated it from a South American soil sample.^[2] Its name refers to the shape of its spore-bearing hyphal branches: from the Latin clavula 'little club' and igerus 'bearing'. S. clavuligerus spores are gray to grayish-green.^[2]

S. clavuligerus produces over 20 secondary metabolites, including many beta-lactam antibiotics such as clavulanic acid, cephamycin C, deacetoxycephalosporin C, penicillin N (an intermediate in cephamycin C pathway), and at least four other clavams.^[3][4] Non-β-lactam antibiotics include holomycin and an antibiotic complex, MM 19290, related to tunicamycin;^[5] a beta-lactamase-inhibitory protein (BLIP) has also been described.^[6] For S. clavuligerus ATCC 27064, a teleocidin biosynthetic gene cluster was identified in early isolates held at ATCC, apparently missing from later isolates used for industrial production of clavulanic acid.^[7]

Another important characteristic of S. clavuligerus is that it is not able to use glucose as a carbon source because it lacks a glucose transport system.^[8][9]

It also possesses all the enzymes of the urea cycle, which is unusual for a prokaryote, although it is not clear whether the urea cycle is functional.^[10]