Effect of Prymnesium parvum Toxin, Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide and Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate on Bacteria

SUMMARY: At low concentrations (0.03 to 3 μg./109 cells), purified prymnesium toxin lysed penicillin and lysozyme-EDTA spheroplasts of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fluorescens and protoplasts of Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Bacillus subtilis. Intact E. coli and P. fluorescens were unaffected by the toxin (3.3 μg./ml.), but E. coli B was lysed by prymnesium toxin in the presence of EDTA. The activities of selected detergents against spheroplasts and EDTA-treated E. coli B were compared with the action of prymnesium toxin.