Interaction of bacteriophage K10 with its receptor, the lamB protein of Escherichia coli

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Abstract
The lamB protein of E. coli is the receptor for bacteriophage .lambda.. It constitutes the receptor for phage K10. The lamB protein interacts with phage K10 in vitro but this interaction does not lead to phage inactivation. Most .lambda.-resistant lamB mutants are resistant to K10 and vice versa. A significant proportion of mutants resistant to one phage is sensitive to the other. Of 19 K10-resistant .lambda.-sensitive mutants studied, only 6 produced a lamB protein which seems totally unimpaired in its interaction with .lambda.. Mutations in these 6 strains all map in the same deletion interval of the lamB gene. The corresponding region of the lamB polypeptide must be specifically involved in interaction with phage K10. An unusual pattern of K10 host range mutants was obtained; 2 classes of such mutants could be defined growing on 2 distinct classes of K10-resistant lamB mutants.