Production of staphylococcal alpha toxin. I. Relationship between cell growth and toxin formation

Alpha toxin production and its relationship to cell growth were studied in the Wood 46 strain of Staphylococcus aureus. Toxin first appeared in the culture in the late logarithmic stage, but at least 80% was produced during the subsequent period of slower cell growth. The toxin concentration per unit of cell mass or viable count increased continually throughout the period of toxin production and and at its maximum represented 1.6 to 2.0% of the dry weight of the cells. The possibility that alpha toxin is released as a result of cell lysis was examined by using the appearance of cellular deoxyribonucleic acid in the medium as an indicator of lysis. The results showed that no appreciable amount of lysis occurred during toxin production; at a time when almost maximum amounts of toxin were present in the culture, less than% 4 of the cells had lysed. This finding, together with the observation that less than 0.25% of the total amount of toxin in the culture could be found intracellularly, indicates that alpha toxin is released from intact cells shortly after it is synthesized.