The Distribution of Soil Microorganisms Antagonistic to Fungi Pathogenic for Man

Although the majority of investigations on antagonistic relationships among microorganisms have been primarily concerned with inhibition of bacteria, there are numerous reports on the antifungal properties of various microorganisms and cell-free preparations obtained from them. No attempt will be made to discuss this extensive literature reviewed so well by Waksman (1). These studies dealt chiefly with the antagonism of saprophytic or plantpathogenic fungi and the fungistatic or fungicidal properties of more or less nonspecific substances produced by active cultures. Only a few (2-10) are comparable in scope to surveys on the distribution of microorganisms antagonistic to bacteria (11-15). No surveys conducted to investigate microorganisms antagonistic to fungi pathogenic for man have to our knowledge been reported. A variety of fungi pathogenic for man, such as Trichophyton schoenleini, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Candida albicans, Coccidioides immitis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton gypseum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes, as well as plant pathogens and nonparasitic fungi, have been tested for susceptibility in vitro to different antibiotic .substances. The list of agents includes actinomycin (16, 17), chaetomin (17), clavacin (16, 17, 18), eumycin (19), fumigacin (16, 17), gladiolic acid (20), gliotoxin (16, 17, 21, 22), glutinosin (23), hemipyocyanine (24), mycophenolic acid (25), penicillin