The temperature was set at 298 K. All the

1H and 13C signals were assigned on the basis of chemical shifts, spin–spin coupling constants, splitting patterns and signal intensities in 1H–1H COSY45, 1H–13C HMQC and 1H–13C HMBC experiments. The MIC of antibiotics were determined by a conventional agar dilution method using ISP 2 medium. The antimicrobial activity was observed after 24–48-h incubation at 37 °C for bacteria and 48–72-h incubation at 28 °C for fungi and yeasts. The results of evolution of antimicrobial products of S. algeriensis are shown in Fig. 2. The antimicrobial activity started earlier in the presence of sorbic acid (third day Cell Cycle inhibitor of fermentation against M. ramannianus and fourth day against B. subtilis) as compared with control (seventh day of fermentation against M. ramannianus and sixth day against B. subtilis). Saccharothrix algeriensis exhibited better antimicrobial activity after addition of sorbic acid compared with the control. The maximal antifungal

activity (25 mM diameter inhibition after 9 days of fermentation) was greater than the maximal antibacterial activity (15 mM diameter of inhibition after 7 days of fermentation). The actinomycete S. algeriensis produces five known dithiolopyrrolones (thiolutin, iso-butyryl-pyrrothine, butanoyl-pyrrothine, senecioyl-pyrrothine and tigloyl-pyrrothine) in the SSM (without precursors) as reported by Lamari et al. (2002b). Importantly, the addition of sorbic acid to the SSM induced the production of four new dithiolopyrrolones (PR2, OSI-744 cell line PR8, PR9 and PR10). The retention times of these new induced compounds (PR2, PR8, PR9 and PR10) were recorded at 28.24, 36.86, 37.16 and 37.82 min, respectively. The growth of S. algeriensis was influenced by the addition of sorbic acid. In SSM broth (control), the dry cell weight reached a maximum after

5 days of fermentation (0.65±0.05 g L−1) and then decreased to reach a value of 0.15±0.03 g L−1 at the end of fermentation (after 10 days). However, by addition of sorbic acid, the dry cell weights reached a maximum of 1.30±0.08 g L−1 (also obtained after 5 days of fermentation) and then decreased Chorioepithelioma 0.32±0.06 g L−1 at the end of fermentation. Moreover, the sorbic acid allowed a high specific growth rate (μmax) of 0.074±0.004 h−1, in comparison with 0.045±0.002 h−1 with control. In addition, the optimal production of new dithiolopyrrolones PR2, PR8, PR9 and PR10 was observed during the idiophase and was generally dissociated from growth. The maximal production of the antibiotics PR2, PR8, PR9 and PR10 was 0.08±0.04, 0.21±0.04, 0.13±0.03 and 0.09±0.00 mg L−1, respectively, recorded on the eighth day of fermentation. The production of thiolutin was reduced three times more after addition of sorbic acid (0.29±0.08 mg L−1) than with the control (0.89±0.09 mg L−1). Moreover, the final pH at the end of fermentation (after 10 days) was 7.92±0.