[Effect of thymus histones on the RNAase, ATPase and phosphatase activity of staphylococcal cells].

It was shown that the representatives of different strains of Staphylococcus genus were characterized by a differential histone sensitivity. The membrane permeability increased in case of the bacterial contact with histones, and the degrading of the sum total cell RNA occurred in the contact of bacteria with histones. The RNA-ase, phosphatase, and the ATP-ase activity increased in the cells after their treatment with histones. The extent of expression of all these processes in the representatives of different strains correlated with their sensitivity to individual histone fractions. The problem that all the phenomena described indicated both the inhibitory effect of histones and some metabolic changes (permitting the cells to preserve their viability under unfavourable conditions) is discussed.