An extracellular, nonelastolytic, neutral metalloprotease of Serratia marcescens was purified by sequential ammonium sulfate precipitation, hydroxyapatite adsorption chromatography, flat-bed isoelectric focusing, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. The protease preparation had a 280/260 nm absorbance ratio of 1.8, was free of detectable amounts of endotoxin, carbohydrate, phosphorus, and other k...

A novel strain, Microbacterium sp., which can be used as a catalyst in the asymmetric reduction of simple aromatic ketones to produce chiral aromatic alcohols, was isolated from soil by microbial screening. Using acetophenone as a model substrate for asymmetric reduction, 82 % reaction yield with more than 99 % enantiomeric excess of (R)-1-phenylethanol were achieved under the optimal condition...

Cell-free hemoglobin (Hb) is a purified preparation of human hemoglobin that is being developed as a resuscitation fluid. In vivo administration of hemoglobin has resulted in significant toxicity, due in part to contamination with bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide (LPS)). To better understand this toxicity, we have studied the interaction between Hb and LPS. Mixtures of each of three diff...

Precipitation of alpha chymotrypsin in the simultaneous presence of ammonium sulphate and t-butanol (three phase partitioning) resulted in preparations which showed self aggregation of the enzyme molecules. Precipitation with increasing amounts of ammonium sulphate led to increasing size of aggregates. While light scattering estimated the hydrodynamic diameter of these aggregates in the range o...