Influence of growth rate on the relative activities of free and bound dextranase and dextranase inhibitor in continuous cultures of Streptococcus sobrinus.

The rate of growth of Streptococcus sobrinus was a major factor governing the activity of free dextranase and free dextranase inhibitor in continuous culture filtrates. Depending on the growth conditions, a variable proportion of dextranase and dextranase inhibitor was combined in a tightly bound enzyme-inhibitor (EI) complex. Dissociation of the EI complexes revealed that the total productivity (free + bound) of both the enzyme and the inhibitor increased with growth rate, and that the activities of the enzyme and inhibitor released from the EI complex greatly exceeded their free activities, when the dilution rate (D) was high (D, 0.45 h-1). At low growth rate (D, 0.05 h-1), all the enzyme was bound to the inhibitor, and no free dextranase could be determined in culture filtrates; by contrast, at high growth rate (D, 0.45 h-1), all the inhibitor was bound to dextranase in the active EI complex, leaving active dextranase but no free inhibitor.