Inhibition of the synthesis of phospholipase C in Bacillus cereus by a component of the growth medium.

A low molecular weight compound, probably of peptide nature, present in the Beef Heart Extract component of the growth medium, inhibits post-transcriptionally the biosynthesis of phospholipase C by a strain of Bacillus cereus. The compound also prevents the increase of proteolytic activity in the growth medium, thus suggesting that the synthesis of another enzyme, an extracellular protease, is also inhibited, and that the inhibitory compound may therefore have a more general effect on exoenzyme synthesis in this strain of Bacillus cereus.