Isolation of bacteria which produce yeast cell wall-lytic enzymes and their characterization

To isolate bacteria capable of producing enzymes that lyse cell wall, we screened soil samples from Rokko Mountain where is situated in west Japan. The isolated strains KH1, KH2 and KH3 that secrete yeast cell wall lytic enzymes are described herein. The activity of the enzymes, after isolation from culture supernatants, were examined. The lytic enzyme produced by strain KH3 was the most active in both cell wall degradation and beta-1,3 glucanase activity in comparison with commercially available enzymes. This enzyme also had the highest thermo- and pH-stability. On the baisis of partial 16S rDNA sequence analyses, KH1 and KH3 were identified as Cellulosimicrobium sp. and KH2 as Bacillus sp. KH3 was tested by DNA-DNA hybridization and GC content in an attempt to precisely classify it, because the 16S rDNA sequence similarities to other strains were very high at 99.4%. These chemotaxonomic experiments indicate that KH3 belongs to Cellulosimicrobium cellulans.