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J Bacteriol. 1966 December; 92(6): 1735-1740
Copyright © 1966 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of Spermine on Lysis and Reproduction by Bacteriophages X174, , and f₂

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

ABSTRACT

GROMAN, NEAL B. (University of Washington, Seattle), AND GRACE SUZUKI. Effect of spermine on lysis and reproduction by bacteriophages X174, , and f₂. J. Bacteriol. 92:1735–1740. 1966.—A test was made of the hypothesis that lysis by all bacteriophages shares as a common and critical step an alteration in the osmotic stability of the infected cell. This was done by examining the effect of spermine on lysis. Spermine is one of a number of compounds which can stabilize spheroplasts and protoplasts to lysis in distilled water. Spermine stabilized both X174- and f₂-infected cells at concentrations ranging from 2 x 10^–3 to 4 x 10^–2M, but failed to stabilize -infected cells at concentrations up to 8 x 10^–2M. Stabilization was reflected both in optical density measurements and in the retention of mature phage in structures sedimentable at low speeds. At optimal concentration, over 90% of the phage was retained in these structures. These data suggest that the mechanism of lysis by X174 and f₂ differs sharply from that caused by , and other observations suggest that there are differences in the lytic process of X174 and f₂ as well. Spermine also displayed a differential effect on phage reproduction. The reproduction of and f₂ was inhibited by spermine, though the data do indicate that maturation occurs in its presence. The reproduction of X174 was enhanced by spermine.