Characteristics of Anabaena variabilis influencing plaque formation by cyanophage N-1

Phage N-1 grown in Anabaena strain 7120 [N-1 . 7120] forms plaques on A. variabilis about 10(-7) to 10(-6) as efficiently as on Anabaena 7120. By manipulating different characteristics of the interaction between phage and host, it was possible to increase the relative efficiency of plaque formation to 0.38. Growth of A. variabilis at 40 degrees C for at least three generations resulted in an increase in the rate of phage adsorption and a 10-fold increase in the efficiency of plaque formation. The efficiency of plaque formation was further increased about 42-fold, with little or no further increase in rate of adsorption, in a variant strain. A. variabilis strain FD, isolated from a culture of A. variabilis which had grown for more than 30 generations at 40 degrees C. The low relative efficiency of plaque formation by N-1 . 7120 on A. variabilis could be partially accounted for if A. variabilis contains a deoxyribonucleic acid restriction endonuclease which is absent from Anabaena 7120. Indirect evidence for such an endonuclease included the following: (i) phage N-1 grown in A. variabilis (N-1 . Av) had approximately a 7 X 10(3)-fold higher relative efficiency of plaque formation on A. variabilis than had N-1 . 7120; and (ii) the efficiency of plaque formation by N-1 . 7120 on A. variabilis strain FD was increased by up to 146-fold after heating the latter organism at 51 degrees C.