Staphylococcosis of turkeys. 4. Characterization of a bacteriocin produced by an interfering Staphylococcus.

A Staphylococcus epidermidis isolate designated strain 115, which is used as an interfering agent against staphylococcosis of turkeys, produces a bacteriocin that was partially purified and characterized in this study. This bacteriocin diffused through agar media, but it was not found in appreciable quantities in the supernatant fluid of broth cultures. Extraction of the bacterial cells with 7 M urea, 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, or 1% Triton X-100 caused considerable amounts of the bacteriocin to go into solution. This substance was partially purified by selective chemical extraction and by gel filtration chromatography using a Sephacryl S-300 column. This bacteriocin had two active forms: an aggregate, and a small-molecular-weight form estimated by gel filtration chromatography to be less than 6500. Activity was not affected by heat, repeated freeze-thaw cycles, pH 2 and pH 10, or a variety of proteolytic enzymes, nucleases, a lipase, and lysozyme.