A proteolytic pseudomonad from skin lesions of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnerii). II. Some properties of the proteinase
An extracellular proteinase from a pseudomonad pathogenic to rainbow trout was purified 33-fold by ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, and Sephadex G 75 gel filtration. The purified enzyme was active over a wide pH range, from pH 5.0 to 10.0. Heating at 98 °C for 1 h did not completely inactivate the enzyme. Its observed temperature optimum was 45 °C. Michaelis–Menten constants were found to be 0.625% for casein and 0.263% for rainbow trout muscle albumin. Activation energies calculated for these substrates were 8.1 kcal and 11.4 kcal per mole, respectively. The involvement of bivalent cations and free sulfhydryl groups in the enzymatic activity was demonstrated by the inhibition caused by metal-complexing agents and p-chloromercuribenzoate, respectively.