ABSTRACT
Sixteen stable mutants blocked in erythromycin biosynthesis were induced through UV-irradiation of two double auxotrophic strains from Str. erythreus BTCC 2. The relative part of inactive mutants is bigger among that portion of the population which has survived the mutagenic treatment showing morphological differences compared with the initial strain. The mutants were grouped into four classes based on cosynthetic experiments carried by three different methods.