Physical separation of streptococcal nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide glycohydrolase from streptolysin O.

Streptococcal nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide glycohydrolase (NADase) with a molecular weight of about 55,000 and an isoelectric pH of 8.55 was isolated from crude streptolysin O (SLO) preparations. NADase differed from SLO in size, charge, and immunological behavior. Streptococcal NADase is considered to have no role in the hemolytic process because it has no hemolytic activity; conversely, partially purified SLO showed no NADase activity. The hemolytic activity of crude SLO was completely inhibited by anti-tetanolysin, whereas the NADase activity in the same reaction mixture was unaffected. Experiments involving double diffusion in agar also demonstrated immunological nonidentity of the two proteins.