SUMMARY: The production by certain species of Clostridium of enzymes disintegrating hide powder was investigated by measuring the lytic action of broth cultures and toxic filtrates on finely divided hide powder suspended in an agar gel.
Cl. histolyticum was the most active producer of enzyme, Cl. welchii A was less active and Cl. sporogenes and Cl. bifermentans only moderately active. Cl. tetani, Cl. oedematiens and Cl. septicum produced no such enzyme. The lytic enzyme of Cl. histolyticum is not the lethal toxin.
Among strains of Cl. welchii type A, enzyme production, α-toxin production and ability to cause fatal infection in guinea-pigs are associated.
There was some evidence that the different enzymes affecting hide powder are antigenically related, but no definite conclusion is possible, since the antisera employed may have contained antibodies to the lytic enzymes of a number of different organisms.
EvansD. G.1945a; The in vitro production of α-toxin, θ haemolysin and hyaluronidase by strains of Cl. welchii type A, and the relationship of in vitro properties to virulence for guinea-pigs. J. Path. Bact 57:75
MilesE. M.,
MilesA. A.1947; The lecithinase of Clostridium bifermentans and its relation to the alpha-toxin of Clostridium welchii. J. gen. Microbiol 1:385