FIG. 3.

Activity of the domains of the multifunctional φ11 endolysin. The lytic activities of purified enzyme samples of the full-length and truncated φ11 endolysin (20 μg/ml each) were examined using purified cell walls of S. simulans 22. The full-length enzyme (▴) was able to lyse the substrate efficiently compared to the protein eluate of the empty-vector control (•). The truncated enzymes φ11endo (□) and φ11ami (⋄) did not show mentionable lytic activity. The truncated enzymes containing the cell wall binding domain, φ11endo/CBD (▪) and φ11ami/CBD (⧫), showed enhanced lytic activity but still worked less effectively than the full-length enzyme. The lytic activity could be restored by the parallel use of φ11endo/CBD and φ11ami/CBD (▵).