Proteolytic activity of crude cell-free extract of Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum

Crude cell-free extracts of some strains of each L. casei and L. plantarum were assayed for their amino-, imino- and endopeptidase as well as the caseinolytic activity. L-alanine-, L-phenylalanine- and L-leucine-p-nitroanilide but not L-glutamic acid-p-nitroanilide, were hydrolyzed by all the strains indicating an amino-peptidase activity. The activity of proline iminopeptidase was very low compared to that of the aminopeptidase. L. casei could be distinguished from L. plantarum by its high endopeptidase activity against succinyl-phenylalanine- and glutaryl-phenylalanine-p-nitroanilide. The caseinolytic activity of cell-free extract of L. casei ATCC 393 was about one seventh the caseinolytic activity of intact cells, suggesting that the bulk of the cellular proteinase activity is located in the cell wall. It appears that a metallo aminopeptidase and a probable cysteine one are involved in the hydrolysis of amino acid-p-nitroanilide, whereas the endopeptidase activity appears to be related to a cysteine enzyme. Incubation of gels with L-leucine-p-nitroanilide after electrophoresis allowed the revealing of 2 zones of aminopeptidase activity in a strain of L. casei and only one in two others, but in L. plantarum it did not allow the revealing of any. The high proteolytic activities of L. casei compared to those of L. plantarum may explain its more frequent occurrence in cheese and its probable role in the ripening of many cheese varieties.