[Catalases of mycobacteria as antigens. I. Isolation, purification and characterization of catalases from different mycobacteria (author's transl)].

Preparations of catalase isolated from the strains M. tuberculosis, M. kansasii and M. bovis BCG are produced for testing their antigenic activity. After desintegration of the bacteria the highest activity remained in the precipitation with 50% saturated ammonium sulphate solution. The further purification of the catalase-fractions occurred with the aid of column chromatography on Sephadex G 200 and DEAE-Sephadex-A 50 after ultrafiltration. In this way the relative activity increased in M. tuberculosis 3- to 4-fold, in M. kansasii 12-fold and in M. bovis BCG 16-fold. The catalase preparations are uniform and nearly free from other protein compounds as indicated by the results of immunoelectrophoresis and Ouchterlony test.