Enzymatic Degradation of Poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) Hydrogel Prepared by ${\gamma}$-Ray Irradiation

A bacterial strain PH-4, which produces an enzyme catalyzing the degradation of crosslinked poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) hydrogels, was isolated and identified as a Flavobacterium sp. The enzyme was obtained by the sonication of the bacterial cells preincubated in a Bouillon medium with shaking, without adding of poly(${\gamma}$-glutamic acid) as an inducer. The products of the hydrogel degraded by the crude enzyme agreed closely with the depolymerized materials in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using methylene blue staining, and with a glutamic acid monomer on thin-layer chromatography, thereby suggesting that strain PH-4 produced a kind of exohydrolase.