ENZYME FOR DISSOLVING A CELL WALL OF STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS AND MICROORGANISMS FOR PRODUCING THE ENZYME

摘要

The present invention relates to a cell wall lytic enzyme that selectively acts on the cell wall of Streptococcus mutans, a bacterium that causes dental caries, to dissolve bacteria and microorganisms producing the same.;The present inventors searched for lytic enzymes that dissolve the cell wall of Streptococcus mutans for use as additives such as food and toothpaste or medicinal products. Microorganisms producing lytic enzymes were isolated from soil, identified as Bacillus sp, and the characteristics of the strains and enzymes were examined. The strain produces two types of lytic enzymes, each of which has a single subunit of molecular weight 27,000 Daltons and 45,000 Daltons. The optimum pH of each reaction is in the range of pH 6 and 8, the optimum temperature is in the range of 30 ℃ and 60 ℃, stable in the pH range 5-11, and stable up to 60 ℃. Production media include carbon sources such as sucrose, fructose, glucose, and starch, nitrogen sources such as NH4 + salts, urea, proteins, and soy flour, amino acids, corn steep liquor, peptone, and natural media such as gravy, Mg + salts, and phosphates. Could. Each enzyme is an endopeptodase that breaks down the amino acid bonds of pepidodoglycans among the cell wall components of Streptococcus mutans, and is known as Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051. The molecular weight of 30,000 Daltons produced by L-alanine amidase and Bacillus subtilis 168 of molecular weight 50,000 Daltons (Da), which are the lytic elements of Streptococcus mutans cell wall N-acetyl muramoyl-L-alanine amidase and other novel enzymes are presumed to be.