Inhibitory Effect of Some Gaseous Hydrocarbons on the Cell-lysis of Micrococcus lysodeikticus by Egg-white Lysozyme

The cell-lysis of Micrococcus lysodeikticus by egg-white lysozyme was inhibited by some nonpolar hydrocarbons such as n-butane, isobutane or propane. The lysozyme-induced cell-lysis was, however, no longer inhibited when the same hydrocarbons were added after the cell-lysis had already begun. Bubbling air through the cell suspensions, in which the lysozyme-induced cell-lysis had been inhibited in advance by the hydrocarbons, restored the event of cell-lysis to some extents. The Lineweaver-Burk plots indicated the kinetics of competitive inhibition of the lysozyme-induced cell-lysis by these hydrocarbons. From these results, the gaseous hydrocarbons were assumed to exert little influence on the enzymatic activity of egg-white lysozyme itself, that is the hydrolysis of β-1,4-glucosaminide linkage of the mucopeptide chain in the cell wall, but inhibit competitively the binding of lysozyme to the cells.