Marine transducing bacteriophage attacking a luminous bacterium.

The isolation and partial characterization of a marine bacteriophage attacking a strain of luminous bacteria is described, including some physical, biological, and genetic properties. It is a DNA phage of density of 1.52 with a long flexible tail and an apparently icosohedral head. With respect to stability in suspension, it has a rather specific requirement for the sodium ion in high concentration; it is further stabilized by the addition of calcium and magnesium ions. These same ions are likewise all required for both good plating efficiency and plaque uniformity. Although it goes through a typical lytic growth cycle (about 45 min), with a burst size of 100, and no stable lysogens have been isolated, it is nevertheless a transducing phage specifically for the tryptophan region, transducing several, but not all, independently isolated Trp(-) auxotrophs to protrophy. No other auxotrophs of a variety of amino acids were transduced by this phage to prototrophy. Phage infection does not change the normal expression of the luminescent system, and light remains at near normal levels until cell lysis occurs.