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A Generalized Transducing Salmonella Phage ES18 Can Recombine with a Serologically Unrelated Phage Fels 1
Abstract
SUMMARY
A long-tailed and generalized transducing Salmonella phage ES18 can recombine with a serologically unrelated phage Fels 1. When ES18 phage stocks grown on Fels 1 lysogens were plated on Fels 1 lysogens resistant to ES18, plaques of a new hybrid phage P181 were found at a frequency of about 10−8. Serological analysis of phage P181 showed that it carries the protein coat of Fels 1 and has no serological cross-reactivity with ES18. Phage P181 expresses the clear plaque morphology similar to that of ES18. ES18 was also found to carry a homology with P22 in at least the c regions. Thus, the c markers (c+, c1, c2 and c3) of P22 can be transferred to ES18. When these ES18 strains were used for isolation of P181 phage, the clear plaque morphology of P181 mimicked that of the P22c marker in the ES18 strain which gave rise to the P181 strain. Salmonella typhimurium strain Q1, lysogenic for P181, is immune to ES18 but not to Fels 1. Furthermore, ES18 lysogens are immune to P181. Therefore it is concluded that the hybrid phage P181 conserves the protein coat of Fels 1 and carries at least the c regions of ES18.
When ES18 was grown on Fels 1 lysogens of recombination-deficient (recA) mutants, P181 hybrid particles were found in the ES18 stocks at a frequency of about 10−11. This frequency is about 1000-fold lower than that found in ES18 stocks grown on the wild type hosts lysogenic for Fels 1. Therefore, it is concluded that the bacterial recombination mechanism plays an important role in the formation of P181 by recombination between the prophage Fels 1 and the superinfecting phage ES18.
Although phage ES18 belongs to B group phages, it possesses a generalized transducing capability. We have studied a possible origin of ES18.
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© Journal of General Virology 1978