Morphological features of a filamentous phage of Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal.
A filamentous phage was isolated from carrier strain AI-1841 of Vibrio cholerae 0139 Bengal and thus was termed fs phage. The phage was measured to be approximately 1 microm in length and 6 nm in width. One end of the phage was slightly tapered and had a fibrous appendage. The plaques developed on strain AI-4450 of V. cholerae 0139 were small and turbid. The phage grew in strain AI-4450 and reached a size of 10(8) to 10(9) pfu/ml at 5 hr after infection without inducing any lysis of the host bacteria. The group of phages attached on rod-shaped materials like fimbriae of this bacteria, with their fibrous appendages at the pointed end, were often found in the phage-infected culture. The anti-fimbrial serum effectively inhibited the infection of fs phage to the host strain AI-4450. We thus concluded that the phage can be adsorbed on fimbriae with a fibrous appendage on the pointed end of the phage filament.
Shimodori
S
S
School of Health Sciences, Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Iida
K
K
Kojima
F
F
Takade
A
A
Ehara
M
M
Amako
K
K
D000327:Adsorption; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000821:virology*; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000032:analysis
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; D015247:Deoxyribonuclease HindIII; D015719:Single-Strand Specific DNA and RNA Endonucleases