Surface-bound nuclease of Stapylococcus aureus: purification and properties of the enzymes

The surface-bound nuclease of Staphylococcus aureus liberated during formation of protoplasts was purified 1,000-fold by chromatography on phosphocellulose. Its properties were compared with those of the known extracellular nuclease, purified 200-fold by the same procedures. The adsorbance of the surface-bound nuclease on phosphocellulose was distinctly different from that of the extracellular nuclease, but other properties of the two enzymes were similar. Both enzymes had a pH optimum of about 10 and required Ca(2+) for activity. Both enzymes hydrolyzed deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid, and denatured DNA was a better substrate than native DNA. Both enzymes were inhibited by the same metal ions. Nuclease-less mutants of S. aureus were isolated from S. aureus 209P by using N-methyl-N'-nitroso-N-nitrosoguanidine. These mutants contained neither surface-bound nor extracellular nuclease activity. These results suggest that the surface-bound and extracellular nucleases are expressed from the same cistron of S. aureus.