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. 1962 Nov;2(6):433–449. doi: 10.1016/s0006-3495(62)86866-0

The Adsorption of Bacteriophage ϕX174 to its Host

Robert Fujimura, Paul Kaesberg
PMCID: PMC1366411  PMID: 13963179

Abstract

The adsorption of purified ϕX174 to E. coli C and to E. coli C cell walls was investigated. Adsorption was measured by assaying for unadsorbed plaque formers. The amount of irreversible and reversible adsorption depends upon pH and divalent ion concentration. Maximum irreversible adsorption occurs in 0.1 M CaCl2 at 36°C. There is no detectable reversible adsorption at conditions of pH and CaCl2 concentration optimum for irreversible adsorption. Under these optimum conditions, diffusion is not the rate-limiting factor, and the encounter efficiency appears to be low. The rate constant is 1.0 × 10-10 ml/sec. Phages adsorbed irreversibly to live cells cause infection and to the isolated cell walls apparently cause release of DNA. There is a specific ϕX174 receptor site on the mucocomplex portion of the cell wall.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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