Inhibition of protease production of various bacteria by ammonium salts: its effect on toxin production and virulence.

Production of protease by many bacteria was found to be inhibited by ammonium salts, and the enzyme production was more sensitive to the salts than was growth of the organisms. Inhibition of protease production by some pathogenic bacteria may result in the recognition of an exotoxin which otherwise would have been digested by the protease. In the case of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, qualitatively different toxicities could be demonstrated in the culture fluids, depending on the presence or absence of protease in such a fluid. The toxicity of the culture in the presence of a high titer of protease may be due primarily to the protease, whereas the toxicity exhibited in the absence of protease could be due to proteinacious exotoxin. Producers of high titers of protease tended to be less virulent in vivo than producers of low titers of the enzyme, which exert their toxicities by a separate exotoxin.