VIRULENCE IN PHAGE POPULATIONS INFECTING HALOBACTERIUM-CUTIRUBRUM

Citation
Ll. Daniels et Ac. Wais, VIRULENCE IN PHAGE POPULATIONS INFECTING HALOBACTERIUM-CUTIRUBRUM, FEMS microbiology, ecology, 25(2), 1998, pp. 129-134
Citations number
27
Categorie Soggetti
Microbiology
Journal title
ISSN journal
01686496
Volume
25
Issue
2
Year of publication
1998
Pages
129 - 134
Database
ISI
SICI code
0168-6496(1998)25:2<129:VIPPIH>2.0.ZU;2-3
Abstract
Phages of low virulence predominated culturable phage populations in a naturally occurring Jamaican salt pond with Halobacterium cutirubrum as host. These mutated rapidly in culture to higher virulence due to m ore rapid adsorption to host cells. Wild-type phages of low virulence, S50.2 and S41, with adsorption rate constants (K) of 1.15 and 1.21x10 (-11) mi min(-1) mutated to produce highly virulent derivatives S50.2V m and S41Vm with K = 2.60 and 2.61 x 10(-11) mi min(-1), values simila r to the most virulent wild-type phages S5100 and S4100, K = 2.61 and 2.55 x 10(-11) mi min(-1) respectively. Quantitative measures of intra cellular phage development were constant among low and high virulence wild-type and mutant phages S50.2, S5100 and S50.2Vm with eclipse peri ods of 5.5 h, latent periods of 9 h and average apparent burst sizes o f 60-65. We propose that the natural environment may select for slow a dsorption to reduce the frequency of release of DNA from phage particl es in response to encounters with non-host material. (C) 1998 Federati on of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Scienc e B.V.