CHARACTERIZATION OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS PHAGE φNR2 IN COMPARISON WITH PHAGE SP10

Abstract

A new bacteriophage φNR2 isolated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 203 as host is adsorbed by cells of B. subtilis Marburg, however, the infection is abortive. This behavior seems to be analogous to that of phage SP10. Therefore, biological and physico-chemical properties of phage φNR2 were studied in comparison with those of phage SP10C. The most critical differences between the two phages are the antigenic specificities and nonhomology of DNA shown by hybridization experiments. In addition, comparisons of melting temperature, buoyant density and chemically determined base composition indicate that phage φNR2 DNA does not contain unusual bases, while phage SP10 DNA is known to contain abnormal bases replacing thymine. These data show the unrelatedness of phage φNR2 and phage SP10.