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. 1978 Jun;35(6):1145–1149. doi: 10.1128/aem.35.6.1145-1149.1978

Interaction of Bacteriophage Infection and Low Penicillin Concentrations on the Performance of Yogurt Cultures

Walter M Verhue 1
PMCID: PMC242997  PMID: 16345294

Abstract

Bacteriophage infection of a mixed-strain Streptococcus thermophilus culture, one strain of which is phage sensitive and the other phage resistant, may induce lysis of both strains. Experiments were carried out with three different phage-resistant strains. One such strain lysed in penicillin-free growth medium and another needed penicillin G (0.005 IU/ml) for lysis, while the third strain continued to grow in the presence of this concentration of antibiotic. Growth of the latter strain was inhibited when the medium contained a relatively high concentration of phage lysin. The different penicillin concentrations required to induce “lysis from without” of these phage-resistant strains correlated with their individual sensitivities to the antibiotic. The apparent relationship between the sensitivities of these strains to penicillin and to phage lysin could be explained by a difference in the degree of polymerization of the cell wall peptidoglycan.

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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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