[Intracellular nucleodepolymerase of bacteria, representatives of the Proteus and Providencia groups. Its isolation and properties].

High activity of enzymes, splitting native, denaturated DNA, deoxyribooligonucleotides and RNA, was observed in cell free extracts of bacteria--representatives of 5 strains of Proteus-Providencia. Some properties of nucleases were studied in cell free extracts. In the bacteria studied DNAases were thermolabile proteins, which were completely inactivated at 50-60 degrees, RNAases were more thermostable. The pH optima of the DNAases were at pH 9.0-11.0 in cell free system; RNAases were maximally active at pH 8.0-9.0