Abstract
Among 843 strains of 56 microbial genera tested, those producing considerably high elastolytic activities in the culture broths belonged to only 5 genera, Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces. When Flavobacterium sp. No. 9-35 which was isolated from soil, was cultured in a commercially applicable medium, 155 units per ml of elastolytic enzyme was produced which was about 4 fold higher than that produced with a complex medium by “the best” strain of those reported.
Twenty six-fold purified enzyme preparation from Flavobacterium sp. No. 9-35 showed the optimum temperature of 40°C and the optimum pH of 7.5 with phosphate buffer for the activity. The enzyme was stable at neutral pH and at less than 40°C, while the complete inactivation was observed at 60°C for 20min. CuSO4, ZnSO4 and HgCl2 strongly inhibited the activity, wheras p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and EDTA did not. 0.1M NaCl inhibited the activity 45% at pH 8.5, while activated it 20% at pH 7.2. The enzyme was strongly adsorbed on elastin at pH 8.5.
