Distribution and Characteristics of the Catalases of Lactobacillaceae

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Abstract
Certain strains of lactobacilli and pediococci incorporated hematin during growth, with the concomitant formation of cyanide- and azide-sensitive catalase. Three of five strains of lactobacilli and five of 25 strains of pediococci were capable of this biosynthesis. The pediococci required the heme component of blood, whereas the lactobacilli could incorporate the heme component in the form of purified and solubilized hemin or from blood. In all cases where inhibitor-sensitive enzyme was produced, it was accompanied by the production of inhibitor-insensitive enzyme. In the absence of hematin, only insensitive enzyme was obtained. Two catalase-positive strains of Streptococcus faecalis were found incapable of the synthesis of a heme-type enzyme, as was one member of the genus Leuconostoc. Iron and manganese in the growth medium stimulated the production of the insensitive catalase, but significant quantities of these metals could not be found in a purified enzyme preparation obtained from Lactobacillus plantarum. Aeration had little or no effect on growth, but it consistently doubled the amount of cyanide- and azide-re-sistant catalase. By means of conventional enzyme fractionation techniques, it was possible to separate the two different enzymes present in the cell-free extract of a strain of Pediococcus homari which had been grown in the presence of blood.