Cold-sensitive Pseudomonas RNA polymerase. I. Characterization of the host dependent cold-sensitive restriction of phage CB3.

Analysis of bacteriophage CB3 infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAT2 establishes that phage induced changes in net macromolecular synthesis are absent at nonpermissive phage growth temperatures (32 C). Alterations which are evident in the PAT2 strain at 37 C or in the fully permissive strain, PAO1C, at either warm or cold temperatures do not occur in PAT2 at low temperatures. CB3 DNA synthesis and the degradation of host DNA to approximately 78S components occur at 37 C, but are absent in PAT2 at 20 C. Nevertheless, attachment of phage DNA to host cytoplasmic material occurs under permissive and nonpermissive conditions. This binding of phage DNA at 20 C is identical in nature to phage DNA bound at 37 C. Thus, the conditional cold-sensitive PAT2 host function in the growth of CB3 is expressed subsequent to membrane binding of the infecting genomes but prior to the onset of the initiation of CB3 DNA synthesis, the inhibition of host DNA synthesis, and the transient depression in RNA synthesis which occurs in permissive cells.