THE PROPERTIES OF X-RAY-INACTIVATED BACTERIOPHAGE I

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Abstract
When bacteriophages are exposed to X-rays, a fraction of the phage particles lose the ability to reproduce and are called inactive. This paper analyzes the inactivation process by attempting to determine which stages in host-phage interaction are blocked by X-ray damage. Phages of the T group active on E. coli B were employed. For phages suspended in broth, inactivation proceeds at an exponential rate as a function of the X-ray dose, and is apparently due to a direct effect of radiation on the phage particle. All of the inactive particles are able to adsorb onto sensitive bacteria, but only a fraction of them retains the ability to kill bacteria or to exclude another phage type. The abilities to produce lysis inhibition or to lyse bacteria from without are not destroyed when the bacterial killing ability is lost. Multiplicity reactivation and photoreactivation of X-ray inactivated phage are observed in slight amts. The results are interpreted to distinguish 2 stages in the early period of phage reproduction, the first being called adsorption, the 2d invasion; invasion is necessary for the killing of the host cell.

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