[Various aspects of protoplast production in Streptococcus lactis]

The authors studied the effect of some factors, including the conditions of preincubation, the action of 2-mercaptoethanol, EDTA, alpha-amylase, on protoplast production in four strains of Streptococcus lactis caused by lysozyme. The strains differed in the nisin-producing activity and in the structure of the cell walls that were not affected with lysozyme without either preincubation in 2-mercaptoethanol or in a salt medium with minimal inhibitory concentrations of DL-threonine. EDTA and alpha-amylase increased the lysozyme effect. Among seven buffer systems studied the most favourable for protoplast production in S. lactis is the ammonia-citric buffer with EDTA, and the best regeneration medium is the agar salt medium to which, depending on the strain, either glucose or sucrose should be added as a stabilizer.