STUDIES ON OXIDATION AND REDUCTION BY PNEUMOCOCCUS : VI. THE OXIDATION OF ENZYMES IN STERILE EXTRACTS OF PNEUMOCOCCUS

1. Certain enzymes of Pneumococcus are destroyed by oxidizing agents formed when sterile extracts of the cellular substances are exposed to air. The carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes (sucrase, raffinase, inulase, and amylase) are the most easily inactivated under these conditions, although the bacteriolytic enzyme is also reduced in activity. Similar treatment is without effect upon the active concentration of pneumococcus lipase and peptonase. 2. The enzymes which are destroyed during the oxidation of unwashed cell extracts are themselves non-reactive with molecular oxygen. The reactions by which they are destroyed seem to represent oxidations of a type similar to those proposed in previous papers for the oxidation of hemotoxin and of hemoglobin. 3. A study has been made of the relative resistance of different pneumococcus enzymes to heat and to the action of hydrogen peroxide. 4. The various enzymes may be arranged in the same order of relative resistance whether the rating be made from the standpoint of resistance to heat or of resistance to oxidation. Nevertheless, it appears that by a proper regulation of conditions of oxidation, certain labile constituents of a mixture of cellular enzymes may be inactivated with less effect upon the activity of other constituents of the mixture than when inactivation is brought about by heat.