Inhibition of bacterial conjugation by ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid male-specific bacteriophages.
Both deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) male-specific phages, with an F-specific host range, inhibited the bacterial mating process of Escherichia coli. DNA phages prevented the formation of mating pairs but had no effect on mating pairs once they were formed. A step in RNA phage infection, prior to RNA penetration, prevented the formation of mating pairs and, in addition, prevented a fraction of existing mating pairs from completing the mating process. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that donor cells have a single surface structure involved in both conjugation and male-phage adsorption and that this element is the F pilus.
D001665:Binding Sites; D003090:Coliphages; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004267:DNA Viruses; D004926:Escherichia coli; D012328:RNA Viruses