PRODUCTION OF ELASTASE AND PROTEINASE BY PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA

Abstract

Some strains of P. aeruginosa produced elastase, but the others did not. The elastase-positive strains produced two proteinases (fractions-II and-III), and the elastase-negative strains produced one proteinase (fraction -III). Moreover, one proteinase (fraction-I) was produced by both elastase-positive and elastase-negative strains, but the activity was small and negligible. The three proteinases were separated by column chromatography on diethylaminoethyl-cellulose, and elastolytic activity corresponded to fraction-II. The effect of components of the medium was slight for production of fraction-II; fraction-III was produced only in synthetic medium containing Ca ion and not in natural medium. The optimal pH of fractions-I,-II and-III for casein was 6.5, 8.0 and 10.0, respectively; that of fraction-II for elastin was 7.5 to 8.0. The other characters of the three proteinases also differed. Both the proteolytic and the elastolytic activities of fraction-II showed a similar behavior for various treatments, except the inhibition test by NaCl and serum. Fraction-III proteinases from various strains were identical in their enzymatic or other characters, showing that various strains were related regardless of the difference of their elastolytic activity. The reason that the elastolytic activity of P. aeruginosa differed according to the origin of the strain is discussed on the basis of a taxonomic study; results indicate that the ability to produce elastolytic activity (fraction-n) may be a dissociative character of the species.