RADIOACTIVE STUDIES OF THE PHOSPHORUS METABOLISM OF T2r + BACTERIOPHAGE WITH ESCHERICHIA COLI

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Abstract
The synthesis in nutrient broth of nucleic acids in E. coli infected with the T2r+bacteriophage was followed with radioactive P. When the E. coli were irradiated with u.-v. light before infection, the P utilized was considerably greater than in the controls of irradiated E. coli without T2. The final P content of ultracentrif-ugates of the lysate shows good correlation with the final number of T2 plaque-forming units and leads to a P content per infectious unit that agrees with previously published chemical analyses. The amt. of P in the crude lysates recoverable in the filtered lysates is such as to show that nearly all the nucleic acid synthesized by the infected bacteria is incorporated in mature bacteriophage. The amt. of DNA synthesized by actively growing E. coli during one generation lifetime apparently marks an upper limit to the amt. of this acid that can become available for bacteriophage production in u.-v. inactivated E. coli. The data from detailed study of early stages further indicate that the maximum rate of synthesis of DNA in systems involving the infected E. coli is approx. the same as in normal actively growing bacteria cultured under similar conditions. Infection of E. coli with u.-v.-irradiated T2 reduced the P uptake to an extent that showed that the synthesis of both ribose and dexosyribose nucleic acids had been suppressed. Infection of irradiated E. coli with irradiated T2 gave a P uptake which was less than that for irradiated E. coli alone.