title: Physical assay of competence for specific mating-pair formation in Escherichia coli.
abstract: The fractions of Escherichia coli female and male bacteria that are competent to form specific mating pairs at any time during normal exponential growth have been measured by a physical assay. The competencies of a Hayes- and a Cavali-type donor were 35 and 50%, respectively, in agreement with piliation assays reported by others. The competencies of two recipient strains, PA309 and P678, were found to be 33 and 29%, respectively.
mesh_terms: D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D003470:Culture Media; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D005260:Female; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media