Studies on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 bacteriophage receptors

Receptor for phage PIK specific for Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1 was studied. Phage PIK was strongly inactivated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro, exhibiting a PhI50 of 4.8 micrograms/ml. Further it was noted that this inactivation by LPS was reduced to 50% by several mono- and disaccharides when tested in vitro. D-glucosamine, D-mannose and L-rhamnose were found to be most effective at the concentration of 0.045 M, 0.25 M and 0.35 M respectively. This suggests the possibility that phage PIK receptor in LPS contains D-mannose, L-rhamnose and D-glucosamine. Either one of the former two could be located at a terminal position alpha-linked to the adjacent residue or located internally in the polysaccharide chain linked through its C-4 position. A theoretical approach to the interpretation of phage cell interaction was also investigated.