Lytic enzymes and detergents

•Lysozyme: disrupts bacterial cell walls (hydrolysis of peptidoglycans) leading to cell rupture
–Effective with gram positive bacteria, gram negative generally require pre-treatment with a chelating agent such as EDTA
•Detergents: anionic and non-ionic detergents have been used to permeabilize gram negative cells. Detergents are required for the release of integral membrane proteins.