Perimycin, also known as aminomycin and fungimycin, is polyene antibiotic produced by ''

Streptomyces coelicolor ''Streptomyces albidoflavus'' is a bacterium species from the genus of ''Streptomyces'' which has been isolated from soil from Poland. ''Streptomyces albidoflavus'' produces dibutyl phthalate and streptothricins. Small noncoding RNA Bacteri ...

'' var. aminophilus. The compound exhibits

antifungal An antifungal medication, also known as an antimycotic medication, is a pharmaceutical fungicide or fungistatic used to treat and prevent mycosis such as athlete's foot, ringworm, candidiasis (thrush), serious systemic infections such as ...

properties. __TOC__

Composition

Perimycin is produced naturally as a mixture of three types: A, B and C, with type A being the major component. All types consist of a

polyketide In organic chemistry, polyketides are a class of natural products derived from a Precursor (chemistry), precursor molecule consisting of a Polymer backbone, chain of alternating ketone (, or Carbonyl reduction, its reduced forms) and Methylene gro ...

core with a perosamine sugar moiety. The variations occur at the end of the core opposite the perosamine moiety. Perimycin A has an aromatic group in this position, whereas the identities of the analogous groups in the other perimycin types are currently undetermined.

Usage

Polyene antibiotics in general are often toxic to humans and have poor

bioavailability In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. H ...

. Thus, with the notable exception of

amphotericin B Amphotericin B is an antifungal medication used for serious fungal infections and leishmaniasis. The fungal infections it is used to treat include mucormycosis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, candidiasis, coccidioidomycosis, and cryptococ ...

, they are often not used clinically. Perimycin has been shown to be an effective antifungal compound, but is not widely used in clinical settings.

References

Macrolide antibiotics Antifungals Polyenes {{drug-stub