Abstract
DURING the course of an investigation1 on the susceptibility of Sh. sonnei Phase I and II2 and their phage-resistant variants to the T series of bacterial viruses, it was found that the Phase I micro-organism was lysed only by T2 and T6, whereas the Phase II bacillus was susceptible to T3, T4 and T7 as well as T2 and T6. Solutions of the chemically purified and immunologically specific somatic antigens derived from Phase I and II bacilli3 were incubated at 37° C. with approximately 2,000 particles per ml. of the appropriate viruses in an ammonium lactate medium (F)4. The bacteriophages employed were kindly supplied by Dr. Mark Adams, of New York University. Fresh stocks of the T3 and T7 viruses were prepared in nutrient broth using E. coli B as the host cell. T2 and T6 were prepared in F medium, and the T4 virus in F medium containing 5 micrograms of 1-tryptophane per ml. When 0·1 ml. of the mixture was assayed on nutrient agar by the Hershey poured-plate technique5, there was no evidence that the lipocarbohydrate–protein antigens, even in concentrations as high as 0·1 mgm. per ml., would inhibit the lytic action of the viruses. This indicated that the purified antigens were incapable of preventing adsorption of the virus by the bacterial cell. These observations appear to be contrary to those of other investigators6, who found that extracts of a variety of micro-organisms, which presumably contained immunologically active carbohydrates, have the power of preventing the adsorption of bacterial viruses to the host cell.
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MILLER, E., GOEBEL, W. Role of Co-factors in the Inhibition of Bacterial Viruses by the Somatic Antigens of Shigella sonnei. Nature 164, 744 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164744a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/164744a0
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