Ribonucleic acid synthesis after adsorption of the bacteriophage lambda on Escherichia coli minicells.

Lambda bacteriophage adsorbs on the chromosome-less small bodies (minicells) produced by aberrant cell division of Escherichia coli P678-54. The plasmid-less minicells, as well as the minicells harbouring the colicinogenic factor E1, reveal a considerable inhibition of total RNA synthesis after phage adsorption. Both kinds of minicells synthesize RNA hybridizable to lambda DNA, but in the plasmid-harbouring minicells lambda RNA synthesis is much more intensive.