title: Studies on megacinogeny in Bacillus cereus. II. Bacillus cereus isolates characterized by prophage-controlled production of megacin A (phospholipase A).
abstract: Five out of a number of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from soil produced high titre specific bacteriocin (megacin A) in mitomycin C-induced cultures. In the course of cultivation with ethidium bromide, the strains gave off segregants not producing bacteriocin (cin-). The lysate of two wild strains formed plaques on the corresponding cin- bacteria. The two phages (wx23 and wx26) were identical in antigenic structure with phage wx was present in the lysate of B. cereus strain W, and converted cin- derivatives into cultures producing megacin A (phospholipase A). The phages produced plaques at 26 degrees C but not at 37 degrees C. In the lysates of the remaining three strains phages were not detected with biological and morphological methods; these cultures have been assumed to carry defective prophage genome. As the corresponding prophages are responsible for the determination of inducible phospholipase A production, phages named wx seem to form a separate group of B. cereus phages.
mesh_terms: D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004996:Ethidium / Q000494:pharmacology; D008242:Lysogeny; D008530:Megacins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008937:Mitomycins / Q000494:pharmacology; D010740:Phospholipases / Q000378:metabolism; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013696:Temperature; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D001430:Bacteriocins; D008530:Megacins; D008937:Mitomycins; D010740:Phospholipases; D004996:Ethidium