Which microorganism produces the antibiotic streptomycin?

Streptomyces griseus is the bacterium that produces the antibiotic streptomycin. A strain of this soil-dwelling microorganism yielded streptomycin in 1943, opening a major new chapter in the treatment of infectious disease.

Albert Schatz isolated the antibiotic while working in Selman Waksman’s laboratory at Rutgers University. Streptomycin was especially important because it was the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis and also showed activity against several other serious bacterial infections. Waksman received the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning streptomycin and antibiotic production, although Schatz’s essential role later became widely acknowledged.

S. griseus belongs to the filament-forming genus Streptomyces, organisms commonly found in soil and decaying vegetation. Its name reflects the gray appearance of its spore-producing colonies. Like many streptomycetes, it makes secondary metabolites that help it compete with other microbes.

A frequent mistake is to confuse streptomycin with penicillin, which comes from a fungus in the genus Penicillium. Streptomycin is bacterial in origin, despite Streptomyces having threadlike growth that can superficially resemble fungi.