Lactococcal bacteriophages require a host cell wall carbohydrate and a plasma membrane protein for adsorption and ejection of DNA.

The mechanism of the initial steps of bacteriophage infection in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis C2 was investigated by using phages c2, ml3, kh, l, h, 5, and 13. All seven phages adsorbed to the same sites on the host cell wall that are composed, in part, of rhamnose. This was suggested by rhamnose inhibition of phage adsorption to cells, competition between phage c2 and the other phages for adsorption to cells, and rhamnose inhibition of lysis of phage-inoculated cultures. The adsorption to the cell wall was found to be reversible upon dilution of the cell wall-adsorbed phage. In a reaction step that apparently follows adsorption to the cell wall, all seven phages adsorbed to a host membrane protein named PIP. This was indicated by the inability of all seven phages to infect a strain selected for resistance to phage c2 and known to have a defective PIP protein. All seven phages were inactivated in vitro by membranes from wild-type cells but not by membranes from the PIP-defective, phage c2-resistant strain. The mechanism of membrane inactivation was an irreversible adsorption of the phage to PIP, as indicated by adsorption of [S] methionine-labeled phage c2 to purified membranes from phage-sensitive cells but not to membranes from the resistant strain, elimination of adsorption by pretreatment of the membranes with proteinase K, and lack of dissociation of S from the membranes upon dilution. Following membrane adsorption, ejection of phage DNA occurred rapidly at 30 degrees C but not at 4 degrees C. These results suggest that many lactococcal phages adsorb initially to the cell wall and subsequently to host cell membrane protein PIP, which leads to ejection of the phage genome.