Formation of a lytic enzyme by a strain of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

A strain of Bacillus subtilis which produces an enzyme capable of digesting vegetative cells of Micrococcus lysodeikticus has been isolated from soil. The enzyme is released into the growth medium in the course of exponential growth in simple synthetic medium. The properties of the enzyme in the growth media is about 80% of the total amount extractable from the culture at all stages of exponential growth despite the fact that the “differential rate” of enzyme formation increases rapidly as exponential growth proceeds. Experimentals are which show that the appearance of the enzyme in the growth media is the direct result of de novo protein synthesis and not of the release of a preformed protein from within the cell.