Question

Streptomyces rimosus is the source of which of the following antibiotics?
(a) Chloromycetin
(b) Erythromycin
(c) Aureomycin
(d) Tetramycin

Answer 1

Hint: Most of the recent antibiotics are made from Streptomyces bacteria. These antibiotics are useful against various infectious and non-infectious diseases. Terramycin or oxytetracycline is used in the treatment of infection of chest, mouth, or infection by bite. It is mainly obtained from Streptomyces rimosus.

Complete step by step answer:
Terramycin antibiotic is made of Streptomyces rimosus. It is used for the treatment of many bacterial infections and also infections caused by bites. Streptomyces rimosus is a bacteria of the Streptomyces genus.

Additional Information:
Streptomyces rimosus is a gram-positive bacterium known profoundly for the production of oxytetracycline and other tetracycline antibiotics. In the treatment of various infectious and noninfectious diseases, tetracycline antibiotics have a great role. Aside from antibiotics, streptomyces bacteria also produce secondary metabolites such as antifungal, antiviral, antitumoral, anti-hypertensives, and immunosuppressants. It is useful in the treatment of chest and mouth infection, infection resulting from some type of bites as well as some sexually transmitted infections.
Chloromycetin is another semi-synthetic antibiotic made from Streptomyces venezuelae. This is used to slow down the growth of bacteria as it prevents them from producing necessary proteins. It was once used to prevent various bacterial infections. But due to its genotoxic nature, it is currently banned to use.
Erythromycin antibiotic is produced from Saccharopolyspora erythraea. This antibiotic also prevents the bacteria from producing vital proteins, and thus kills the bacteria. It can be taken by people allergic to penicillin. It is useful against many gram-positive bacteria and some gram-negative bacteria as well.
Aureomycin or chlortetracycline is the first tetracycline antibiotic to be invented. This antibiotic is useful against 90% of infections caused by bacteria. This antibiotic is obtained from Streptomyces aureofaciens bacteria.
So, the correct answer is ‘Tetramycin’.

Note: Terramycin or oxytetracycline is obtained from a gram-positive bacterium whose genus is Streptomyces and species is rimosus. As all the antibiotics mentioned in the question are made from bacteria of the Streptomyces genus, it might get confusing to solve this question. In fact, all the recent antibiotics are obtained from the Streptomyces genus. Below is a table for memorizing the common antibiotics and their sources. All these sources are streptomyces bacteria.

Antibiotic	Source
Tetramycin	Streptomyces rimosus
Erythromycin	Streptomyces erythraea
Aureomycin	Streptomyces aureofaciens
Chloromycetin	Streptomyces venezuelae
Cypemycin	Streptomyces capreolus
Neomycin	Streptomyces fradiae