A TEMPERATE PHAGE WITH COHESIVE ENDS INDUCED BY MITOMYCIN-C TREATMENTOF LACTOBACILLUS-CASEI

A temperate phage, named PL-2, was induced from Lactobacillus casei AT CC 27092 by mitomycin C treatment of the cells at exponential growth p hase. The phage had an isometric head of 45 nm in diameter and a flexi ble, noncontractile tail, 150 nm long and 10 nm wide, with a sharp tip . Along the tail axis, about 40 regularly spaced striae were seen. The phage DNA had complementary cohesive ends. The restriction enzyme map of the DNA was constructed by using 13 different restriction endonucl eases. The size of the DNA was 35.2 kb, 83% in size of that of phage P L-1 lytic for the same Lb. casei strain.