title: General transducing phages like Salmonella phage P22 isolated using a smooth strain of Escherichia coli as host.
abstract: A smooth colony strain, resistant to phages lambda and P22, was isolated from sewage and identified as Escherichia coli (strain H). Four temperate phages plaquing on strain H were isolated from sewage. The archetype, HK620, does not plaque on strains C and K12 of E. coli nor on the LT2 strain of Salmonella enterica. Bacterial mutants resistant to a clear plaque mutant of HK620 produce rough colonies. Some are also galactose-negative, a few are histidine auxotrophs, and most show sensitivity to lambda. HK620 can transduce a wide variety of auxotrophic mutants of E. coli H to prototrophy. It can recombine with lambda but its virions resemble those of P22.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720-3202, USA.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Dhillon
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000821:virology*; D009154:Mutation; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012483:Salmonella Phages / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014161:Transduction, Genetic