To find a suitable surfactant for enhancing the solubility of fatty acid, some nonionic surfactant including Tween 20, 40, 60, 88, 85; poly-ethylene glycol 200, 300, 400, 600; di-ethylene glycol di-methyl ether (diglyme), Triton X-100, TETRAHYDROFURAN (THF) and dioxan were added to the fermentation medium (with or without palmitis acid) and their effects were studied on the morphology of Saccharopoly spora erythraea and erythromycin production. Tween 20 and Triton X-100 lysed the hyphaea, but in the media containing other surfactant, the hyphae remained in a vegetative form. PEG 300, Tween 40 and THF had neither negative nor positive effecton on the erythromycin production. But addition of Triton X-100 and dioxan to the fermentation medium significantly decreased the concentration of erythromycin, 9.9 and 1.3 times less than that of control, respectively. In the media containing PEG 200, PEG 400, PEG 600, Tween 60, Tween 80, Tween 85 and diglyme, erythromycin concentration was 1.3, 1.5, 2.0, 1.4, 1.4, 1.3, and 1.3 timeshigher than that of control, respectively.

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