Bacteriolytic activity in staphylococci

Abstract

The bacteriolytic activity of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus strains was tested with various media. Whereas S. aureus strains were found to be active under all conditions, the percentage of active S. albus strains was significantly influenced by the composition of the medium. Ionic strength and concentration of the organic nitrogen source were found to be the main factors affecting the expression of bacteriolytic activity of straphylococci. Virtually all of 318 S. aureus and 603 S. albus strains were active on a medium containing 3% peptone, 0.3% glucose, 0.2% yeast extract, 0.1% disodium phosphate, 2.2% sodium chloride and 0.9% agar. The optimal conditions for the bacteriolytic activity of S. aureus strains were different from those of most S. albus strains. Within S. albus, optimal conditions differed also from strain to strain. It is suggested that further studies on this subject may prove useful for the identification and taxonomy of staphylococci. A possible relationship between the production of extracellular bacteriolytic enzymes and pathogenic properties of staphylococci is also considered.

Solubilization of Group‐ and Type‐Specific Streptococcal Antigens with a Murolytic Enzyme from Staphylococcus hyicus

“…Lysostaphin can be separated into three enzyme fractions (L I to L 111) which had been characterized as endo-N-acetylglucosidase (L I), endopeptidase (L 11) and N-acetyl-muramyl-L-alanine amidase (L 111) (19,7). According to SATTA et al (17) the production of bacteriolytic enzymes appeared to be a common characteristic of all strains within the genus staphylococcus. This bacteriolytic activity allowed a separation of staphylococci from micrococci (18).…”

Autolysis-defective mutant of Staphylococcus aureus: pathological considerations, genetic mapping, and electron microscopic studies

“…Establishment of endocarditis. A possible relationship between pathogenicity and autolytic activity was suggested when autolysin production was shown to be common to all strains of pathogenic S. aureus (18). Evidence from phagocytosis and experimental infection studies (22) and from studies of the effects of lysozyme on human fibroblasts (16,17) and on the human lymphocyte response to mitogens (23) has supported the belief that lysozyme may play an important role in the pathogenicity of S. aureus.…”

Production of bacteriolytic enzymes as a tool for characterizing enterococci

“…Production of lytic enzymes able to degrade the bacterial cell wall has been reported for several Gram-negative and Grampositive microbial species (Satta et al 1978(Satta et al , 1983Pompei et al 1990;Shockman 1992), and their analysis has been employed for bacterial classification and identification (Satta et al 1977 ;Varaldo et al 1980;Lammler 1989;Pompei et al 1990Pompei et al , 1992Berlutti et al 1993).…”