Origin of the phospholipids of a lipid-containing virus that replicates in Escherichia coli: bacteriophage PR4.

Bacteriophage PR4 contains lipid and can reproduce in strains of Escherichia coli that carry an appropriate drug-resistance plasmid. Cultivated in either of two E. coli strains, PR4 acquires a lipid region that contains a relatively high level of phosphatidylglycerol and significant amounts of three phospholipids, including phosphatidylserine, which are present in only very low levels in the host cell membranes. To do this, however, PR4 does not significantly alter the relative levels of synthesis of the various E. coli phospholipids after infection. Production of PR4 virions from E. coli cultures labeled with 32PO4 either before or after infection showed that about two-thirds of the viral phospholipid is synthesized after infection. The use of E. coli as the host organism for PR4 should allow a detailed understanding of the assembly process of this lipid-containing virus due to the wealth of biochemical and genetic techniques available.