Disruptive action of potassium phosphotungstate on phiT, the temperate bacteriophage of Bacillus megaterium 899a.

Although untreated phiT may be dried on grids without damage, they were disrupted when negatively stained with potassium phosphotungstate. The potassium phosphotungstate reacted with phage suspended in phosphate buffer, and the altered but still-viable phage was disrupted only on drying. Stability of altered phage was not recovered by dialysis against 10(-3) M Mg(2+).