Staphylolytic Enzyme from Chalaropsis: Mechanism of Action

The staphylolytic enzyme recently isolated from cultures of a Chalaropsis species by Hash is shown to be an acetylmurainidase that cleaves all the glycosidic linkages of N-acetylmuramic acid and N,O-diacetylmuramic acid in the cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus strain Copenhagen. It is similar in specificity to the "32 enzyme" from Streptomyces albus but it differs from egg-white lysozyme whose activity is inhibited by the presence of O-acetyl groups.