[Determination of phage resistance of E. coli cells with electrooptical analysis of cell suspensions]

Changes in the electrooptical (EO) properties of cell suspensions of the E. coli strains: XL-1, BL-Ril, TG-1, K-12, B-878, and BL-21 (DE) in their contamination with the bacteriophage M13K07 were studied depending on the time of infection. The phage-induced specific changes in the EO parameters of cell suspensions were ascertained to occur only in the E. coli strains XL-1, TG-1, and K-12 whereas these changes were not seen in the cell suspensions of E. coli strains BL-Ril, B-878, BL-21 (DE). Control experiments were carried out to infect the cells with the bacteriophage, by making a standard inoculation of the dense nutrient media. The fact that the method for EO analysis of cell suspensions may be used to determine the phage resistance of microbial cells is first shown.