The Role of NaCl in the Lysis of Staphylococcus aureus by Lysostaphin

Abstract

Lysostaphin attacked both viable staphylococci and the muco-peptide portion of the staphylococcal cell wall. In the absence of salts, lysostaphin activity could only be recovered from the particulate portion of the lysed cell after centrifugation, whereas in the absence of salts its action on the mucopeptide resulted in a recovery of active material in both the sediment and the supernatant fluid. It appears from these observations that lysostaphin is complexed with its substrate and that NaCl is required to break the complex.