Sensitivity of Microbial Lipases to Antibiotics

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Abstract
The effect of various concentrations of pimaricin, nystatin and penicillin upon bacterial and fungal lipases was studied. Although the antibiotics inhibited very mildly the cell production of Achromobacter lipolyticum, the Upase activity of the growing culture was arrested by 43 to 100% by 0.5 to 50.0 units of the antibiotics/ml. The antibiotics inhibited the Upases produced by A. Upolyticum, Geotrichum candidum, Aspergil-lus niger and Penicillium roqueforti to varying degrees. There was a direct but not proportional relationship between antibiotic level and percent inhibition. The G. candidum lipase was least inhibited by the antibiotics. Achromobacter Upolyticum produced considerably more lipase or at a faster rate than those produced by the fungi. While A. lipolyticum and G. candidum produced only extracellular Upases, A. niger and P. roqueforti produced both intra- and extra-cellular Upases. The antibiotics showed no specificity in regard to the inhibition of intra- or extra-cellular Upases. An increase in the substrate level nullified the inhibitory effect of the antibiotics upon the Upases. This indicates that antibiotics are competitive inhibitors.