2l8 BIOLOGY OF SPECIALIZED GROUPS 



This enzyme will resist a temperature of 100 C. for fifteen 

 minutes. Wells refers to the statement of Schmailowitsch 

 that sonic bacteria produce an enzyme which acts in an acid 

 media on gelatin but not upon albumen, and changes it 

 into proteoses and peptones. He states that those acting 

 in an alkaline medium carry the process still further, to 

 the point where amino acids, such as leucin and tyrosin, are 

 produced. 



The proteolytic enzymes of pathogenic bacteria in certain 

 cases are prominent in putrefactive processes. There is no 

 relation between the proteolytic enzyme and the pathogenicity 

 of a species of bacteria. There is a possibility that the bac- 

 terial enzymes do play a minor part in the digestion or de- 

 composition of the exudates in suppuration. 



There are also other proteolytic bacterial enzymes which 

 produce a coagulation of caseinogen and later a digestion of 

 the casein of milk. Other species of bacteria produce pro- 

 teolytic enzymes which are capable of acting on the fibrin of 

 blood and the blood corpuscles, changing them into the pro- 

 teoses and peptones, and later into the amino acids. Hem- 

 olysis is closely related to proteolytic enzyme action. All 

 enzymes capable of digesting gelatin will also digest the 

 casein of milk (Eijkman). 



Nearly all the putrefactive bacteria produce proteolytic 

 enzymes which are able to break the protein molecule down 

 to its simplest compounds. A large number of saprophytic 

 bacteria produce proteolytic enzymes, and it is this class 



