Cellular autolytic activity in synchronized populations of Streptococcus faecium

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Abstract
The autolytic capacity of S. faecium (S. faecalis ATCC 9790) varied during synchronous cell division. This phenomenon was initially observed in rapidly dividing populations (TD [doubling time] = 30-33 min) synchronized by a combination of induction and size selection techniques. To minimize the problems inherent in studies of cells containing overlapping chromosome cycles and possible artifacts generated by induction techniques, the autolytic capacities of slowly dividing populations (TD = 60-110 min) synchronized by selection only were examined. Although the overall level of cellular autolytic capacity was observed to decline with decreasing growth rate, sharp, periodic fluctuations in cellular autolytic capacity were seen during synchronous growth at all growth rates examined. On the basis of similar patterns of cyclic fluctuations in autolytic capacity of cultures synchronized by selection, amino acid starvation followed by size selection and amino acid starvation followed by inhibition of DNA synthesis, a link of such fluctuations with the cell division cycle was postulated.