[Proteolysis of collagen by several species of micromycetes and spore-forming bacteria].

The capability of lysing collagen was studied in 4 species of spore-forming bacteria of the genus Bacillus and 9 species of micromycetes of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, and Alternaria. A specific medium was developed for determining the degree of collagen proteolysis. The spore-forming bacteria possessed the higher index of collagen lysis as compared to micromycetes. The maximum value of the lysis index was 4 times higher in B. licheniformis than in C. herbarum. The latter showed the highest degree of collagen proteolysis among the micromycetes studied. The pH optima of collagen proteolysis were determined for 5 species of Aspergillus and Penicillium fungi. It is shown that a submerged culture of A. chrysogenum used fragments of the Achilles tendon as a sole source of carbon. The specific proteolytic activity of the collagen-containing medium was 0.8 units of proteinase activity.min.mg protein on the 7th day of cultivation.