Which bacterium is used commercially to produce the antibiotic streptomycin?

Streptomyces griseus is used commercially to produce the antibiotic streptomycin.

Streptomycin was discovered in 1943 from a strain of S. griseus found in soil at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. The discovery came from systematic screening of soil microbes led by Selman Waksman, with Albert Schatz performing key laboratory work. Industrial production then developed methods for growing the organism and recovering the antibiotic from fermentation cultures.

Streptomycin became historically important because it was the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis and the first major antibiotic discovered after penicillin. It also became a treatment for several other bacterial infections, although resistance and toxic effects have limited its modern use. The drug acts mainly by binding bacterial ribosomes and disrupting accurate protein synthesis.

The genus name can cause confusion: Streptomyces are filament-forming bacteria, not fungi, even though their branching growth can resemble fungal hyphae. Aspergillus niger is a fungus used in industrial fermentations, Penicillium chrysogenum is associated with penicillin, and Bacillus subtilis is used for other enzymes and compounds—not as the canonical commercial source of streptomycin.