A purification method using anti-bacterial sera to remove a major part of the bacterial debris from crude phage suspension followed by differential centrifuging was developed, and was successfully applied to make clear under electron microscope, the shape and size of several phage particles attacking phytopathogenic bacteria.
Each of
Xanthomonas oryzae phages OP
1, OP
1h, and OP
1h2, the OP
1 group ones, is a tadpole shaped particle having a polyhedral head 70mμ in diameter and a tail of 150mμ in length and 15mμ in width.
X. oryzae phage OP
2 is also tadpole shaped, having a polyhedral head as large as that of OP
1, but it differs from OP
1 in its long and slender tail of 95mμ in length and 25mμ in width.
Xanthomonas citri phage CP
1 is also of a tadpole shaped, but the head looks like spherical, 68mμ in diameter, the tail being 160mμ in length and 15mμ width.
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