Platensimycin was first isolated from a strain of Streptomyces platensis by workers at Merck.[2][3] Screens of 250,000 natural product extracts (83,000 strains in three growth conditions) led to the identification of a potent and selective small molecule from a strain of Streptomyces platensis recovered from a soil sample collected in South Africa. The identification process was carried out using a two-plate system in which control organisms were compared to cells expressing FabF antisense RNA.