Ayfivin and bacitracin: resolution of crude products into similar series of peptides

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Abstract
By distr. in a solvent system composed of amyl alcohol-n-butanol and 0.05 M phosphate buffer at pH 6.8-7 (system I), crude ayf ivin (an antibiotic produced by a strain of Bacillus licheniformis) was resolved, or partly resolved, into at least 7 components. 3 descr. as A, B and C, were polypeptides showing antibacterial activity. The major constituent, A, showed an activity similar to that of C and about 4 times that of B. Very poor resolution of the components of ayfivin was obtained on distr. in a system composed of sec-butanol and dilute acetic acid. The distr. curve of commercial bacitracin in system I was similar to that of partially purified ayfivin. There was no resolution of mixture of ayfivin A and the corresponding component of bacitracin on distr. in this system. Ayfivin B and C behaved similarly to 2 other components of bacitracin. The main active constituents of ayfivin and bacitracin are probably identical. The 2 products are so closely related that it is now proposed to abandon the name ayfivin and to refer to the active components of the latter as bacitracin A, B and C.