[An analysis of the interrelation of antilysozyme activity and reproductive function in escherichiae].

In vitro experiments on 72 E. coli strains showed the presence of relationship between the level of their antilysozyme activity and a number of parameters of the reproduction of these bacteria. The factor analysis revealed the integration of the antilysozyme sign with the factors which determined the inhibition of the development of bacterial populations at early stages and controlled the accumulation of bacterial biomass. The study established that the beginning of the expression of the antilysozyme sign of E. coli was associated with the transition of the culture to the phase of slow growth, and the subsequent dynamics of the level of antilysozyme activity was only partially linked with the increase of biomass. The suggestion was made that the antilysozyme factor was one of the elements of the intracellular system regulating the synthesis (and/or stabilization) of peptidoglycan of bacterial cell walls.