Partial purification of Streptococcus faecalis chain disrupting system by gel filtration.

Short-chain-forming Streptococcus faecalis var. zymogenes (group D) has been found to elaborate an extracellular system, which in crude form and after fractionation with 75% saturated ammonium sulphate and on gel filtration on G-75 Sephadex has been shown to split the long chains of the atypical strain NCTC 2400 of the same species. The Gram staining reveals random sites of the lytic activity in the chains indicated by the presence of Gram-negative lysing cocci within a single chain.