DEVELOPMENT OF BACTERIOPHAGE IN X-RAY INACTIVATED BACTERIA

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Abstract
Measurements of radiophosphorus uptake and titer, and electron micrographs were made of cultures of X-rayed Escherichia coli with and without infection by T6r+ bacteriophage. They show that the yield of T6r+ bacteriophage on X-rayed bacteria, infected immediately after irradiation, is large even for completely "killed" cultures decreases with increasing dose, and for any one dose, decreases with the time of incubation of the X-rayed E. coli before infection. The radiophosphorus uptake by both uninfected and infected irradiated bacteria also decreases with increasing dose, but the decrease in the infected cultures is less than that in the unifected when there is T6r+ bacteriophage multiplication. This enhanced radiophosphorus uptake is similar to , but less than half as much as that found with ultraviolet irradiated cultures. The fact that the radiophosphorus uptake by bacteriophage infected E. coli decreases less rapidly with increased dose of irradiation than the radiophosphorus uptake by uninfected bacteria. A study of the yield of different bacteriophages on X-rayed bacteria shows that T6r+ is readily able to use heavily damaged cells whereas T1, T5, and T6r develop poorly, with the yield of T3 and T7 taking an intermediate position.

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