STUDIES ON THE MODE OF SPREAD OF B. ENTERITIDIS MOUSE TYPHOID INFECTION : III. STUDIES OF BACTERIAL CELLS TAKEN FROM SMOOTH, MUCOID, AND ROUGH COLONIES.
1. During early stages of multiplication, single cells from smooth-, mucoid-, and rough-susceptible and variant colonies show no differences in morphology or growth rate. 2. Cells from 18 to 24 hour single cell cultures of these various colony types possess similar oxygen absorption and cataphoretic migratory rates. In staining property, the cells from mucoid colonies appear larger, and those from rough colonies smaller, than the typical cells from smooth-susceptible colonies. 3. Cells from bacteriophage-resistant colonies differ from those of bacteriophage-susceptible colonies in their ability to multiply luxuriantly in the presence of bacteriophage, and in their tendency to flocculate in acid solutions at pH 3.8 to 4.1, as well as in their low degree of virulence. 4. Cells from smooth bacteriophage-susceptible colonies in contact with bacteriophage under conditions where multiplication is restrained may be altered so as to resemble the cells from the bacteriophage-resistant colonies. 5. These facts furnish evidence that bacteriophage adheres to the surface of the bacterial cell and that the various cell changes and colony alterations are of an environmental rather than genetic nature.
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Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
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