Isolation and characterization of T-even ghost-tolerant mutants of Escherichia coli

Mutants of Escherichia coli tolerant to the ghosts of T-even phages (T2, T4, and T6) have been isolated from a strain supersensitive to T6 phage. First, T6 supersensitive mutants were isolated from mutagenized E. coli W2252 by replica plating to T6 phage-overlaid agar. One of them, strain NM101, was mutagenized again, grown, and then plated with a high multiplicity of T4 and T6 ghosts. Surviving cells were checked for tolerance to ghosts and adsorption of phages. One such ghost-tolerant mutant, strain GT29, was tolerant to ghosts of both T4 and T6 phages and sensitive to T2 ghosts. This mutant was also sensitive to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and penicillin G and intermediately sensitive to acriflavine, sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium deoxycholate, actinomycin D, and lysozyme. Another mutant, strain GT62, was tolerant not only to T4 and T6 ghosts but also to T2 ghosts. It was sensitive to sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium deoxycholate, penicillin G, acridine orange, actinomycin D, phenethyl alcohol, and novobiocin and intermediately sensitive to acriflavine and lysozyme. Spontaneous revertants of strain GT62 were isolated with a frequency of 2.7 X 10(-9). It is suggested that ghosts attack host bacteria indirectly through the cell surface by a mechanism similar to the transmission hypothesis that was originally adopted by Nomura (1967) to explain the mechanism of the action of colicins, and that our ghost-tolerant mutants presumably have defects in the cell surface.