Production of Elastase and Proteinase by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Morihara, Kazuyuki (Shionogi Research Laboratory, Osaka, Japan). Production of elastase and proteinase by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Bacteriol. 88:745-757. 1964.-Some strains of Pseudomonas 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 II) may be a dissociative character of the species.