MALE SPECIFIC BACTERIOPHAGE IN SHIGELLA FLEXNERI II. GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF PHAGE IN F'⁺ SHIGELLA

Abstract

Multiplication of male specific bacteriophages, MS-2 and M12, has been demonstrated in F'⁺ S. flexneri. These bacteriophages did not form any plaque on intact F'⁺ Shigella, but the phage RNA could infect spheroplasts of S. flexneri with a similar plating efficiency as in its infection of E. coli.
It was also indicated that the efficiency of adsorption of MS-2 or M12 to intact F'⁺ Shigella was very low; however, once the phage RNA was injected into the bacteria, phage replication occurred therein as well as in E. coli K12; the burst size was about 2, 000 and the latent period was about 20 min., in both E. coli and S. flexneri.
No affirmative evidence for the multiplication and continuous release of RNA phages without killing the host bacterial cells, F'⁺ Shigella, has been obtained.