Streptomyces

Streptomyces
	Slide culture
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Bacillati
Phylum:	Actinomycetota
Class:	Actinomycetia
Order:	Streptomycetales
Family:	Streptomycetaceae
Genus:	Streptomyces; Waksman and Henrici 1943 (Approved Lists 1980)
Type species
	Streptomyces albus; (Rossi Doria 1891) Waksman and Henrici 1943
Diversity
	About 550 species
Synonyms
	List Actinacidiphila Madhaiyan et al. 2022 ; Actinopycnidium Krassilnikov 1962 (Approved Lists 1980) ; Actinosporangium Krassilnikov and Yuan 1961 (Approved Lists 1980) ; Chainia Thirumalachar 1955 (Approved Lists 1980) ; Elytrosporangium Falcão de Morais et al. 1966 (Approved Lists 1980) ; "Indiella" Brumpt 1906 ; "Indiellopsis" Brumpt 1913 ; Kitasatoa Matsumae and Hata 1968 (Approved Lists 1980) ; ?"Macrospora" Tsyganov et al. 1964 ; "Microechinospora" Konev et al. 1967 ; Microellobosporia Cross, Lechevalier & Lechevalier 1963 (Approved Lists 1980) ; "Oospora" Krüger 1904 ; Streptantibioticus Madhaiyan et al. 2022 ; Streptoverticillium Baldacci 1958 (Approved Lists 1980) ; ?"Verticillomyces" Shinobu 1965 ;

Streptomyces, from στρεπτός (streptós), meaning "twisted", and μύκης (múkés), meaning "fungus", is the largest genus of Actinomycetota, and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 700 species of Streptomyces bacteria have been described. As with the other Actinomycetota, streptomycetes are gram-positive, and have very large genomes with high GC content. Found predominantly in soil and decaying vegetation, most streptomycetes produce spores, and are noted for their distinct "earthy" odor that results from production of a volatile metabolite, geosmin. Different strains of the same species may colonize very diverse environments.

Streptomycetes are characterised by a complex secondary metabolism. Between 5-23% (average: 12%) of the protein-coding genes of each Streptomyces species are implicated in secondary metabolism. Streptomycetes produce over two-thirds of the clinically useful antibiotics of natural origin (e.g., neomycin, streptomycin, cypemycin, grisemycin, bottromycins and chloramphenicol). The antibiotic streptomycin takes its name directly from Streptomyces. Streptomycetes are infrequent pathogens, though infections in humans, such as mycetoma, can be caused by S. somaliensis and S. sudanensis, and in plants can be caused by S. caviscabies, S. acidiscabies, S. turgidiscabies and S. scabies.