SPLITTING OF ε-CAPROLACTAM AND OTHER LACTAMS BY BACTERIA

Abstract

ε-Caprolactam-utilizing bacteria split ε-caprolactam, δ-valerolactam and γ-butyrolactam, and produce the ω-amino acids corresponding to them. This activity is lost when cells are grown on 6-amino-caproic acid or ammonium adipate, and reappears when cells are incubated with either ε-caprolactam or δ-valerolactam as the sole major organic nutrient. Chloramphenicol inhibits this adaptation. The enzyme splitting those lactams is one and the same. It may be called “lactam-splitting enzyme”. But attempts to demonstrate the enzymic activity in a cell-free system has not yet been successful.