Morphological, physiological and enzymatic characteristics of cephalosporin acylase-producing Arthrobacter strain 45-8A.

A bacterial strain producing cephalosporin acylases was isolated from soil. The morphological and physiological properties of this strain suggest that it belongs to the genus Arthrobacter, and the isolate was therefore designated Arthrobacter strain 45-8A. Substrate specificity of the enzyme was examined. The enzyme can convert both cephalosporin acid to 7-aminocephalosporanic acid. An interesting feature of the acylases is their temperature-dependent regulation. Activity of acylases was detected in strain 45-8A grown at temperature below 30 degrees C, but was not observed at higher temperature. Arthrobacter strain 45-8A did not exhibit beta-lactamase activity, even though its resistance to cephalosporin C was very strong (> 2000 micrograms/ml). This is quite beneficial for its application in the manufacture of 7-aminocephalosporanic acid.