Enzymes responsible for the bactericidal effect in extracts of vitelline and fertilisation envelopes of rainbow trout eggs.

Extracts from both the vitelline envelope (VE) and fertilisation envelopes (FE) of rainbow trout eggs have the ability to exert a bactericidal effect on Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. The effect may be due to the presence of phospholipase D (PLD), lysozyme, proteinase and DNases, as the extracts contain these enzyme activities. The intensity of chorionic PLD and lysozyme activities in the VE extract was maintained in the FE without any alteration in activity even after transformation in the course of the cortical reaction, as components of a fundamental architecture of the envelope. Both extracts also contain different types of proteinase activities. Treatment with VE or FE extract seriously damaged the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and the plasma membrane of Gram-positive and -negative bacteria at the ultrastructural level. Chorionic DNases probably degrade DNA of bacterial cells killed by virtue of the action of PLD and/or lysozyme and contribute to the transmigration of nucleosides and/or nucleotides produced by degrading bacterial DNA after degradation of bacterial components by the actions of the chorionic PLD, lysozyme and proteinase. These results suggest that the bactericidal process manifested by the VE or FE extract may start with the action of PLD and/or lysozyme against bacteria and be completed by subsequent degradation of constitutive proteins and DNA by the action of proteinases and DNases, respectively. Thus the VE and FE are able to protect the egg itself and the embryo, respectively, from bacterial infection in the internal or external environments.