Micrococcus lysodeikticus bacterial walls as a substrate specific for the autolytic glycosidase of Bacillus subtilis.

The Bacillus subtilis 168 autolytic glycosidase degrades Micrococcus lysodeikticus cells or cell walls, whereas the B. subtilis autolytic amidase does not. The criteria used to establish this fact included: the determination of chemical bonds broken, heat-inactivated kinetics, pH dependence curves, and the physical separation of glycosidase from amidase. The physical separation involved LiCl elution from two different ion-exchange materials, walls from B. subtilis 168 strain betaAO, and walls from mutant strain betaA173 derived from strain betaAO. No evidence was obtained for B. subtilis vegetative bacteria making any more autolysins than one autolytic amidase and one autolytic glycosidase.