TABLE 1.
General properties of four C. difficile phages
| Property | Result for phage:
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| φC2 | φC5 | φC6 | φC8 | |
| Induced host strain | CD242 | CD578 | CD371 | CD371 |
| Propagating strain | CD062 | CD062 | CD60 | CD843 |
| Plaque appearance, diam (mm) | Clear, 1 | Clear, 1 | Turbid, 0.5 | Clear, 1.5 |
| Particle morphology | ||||
| Width of particle head (nm)a | 64.8 ± 3.4 | 57.9 ± 6.9 | 69.6 ± 2 | 59.8 ± 3.7 |
| Length of tail (nm)a | 147.7 ± 46.9 | 118.3 ± 9.6 | 337.4 ± 9.8 | 139.6 ± 22.3 |
| Sheathg | + | + | − | + |
| Morphotypeb | A1 | A1 | B1 | A1 |
| Single-step growth curve | ||||
| Burst sizec | 5 | 7 | 19 | 33 |
| Latent period (min)d | 32 | 36 | 118 | 90 |
| MOIe | 0.0018 | 0.0019 | 0.035 | 0.007 |
| Estimated genome size (kb)f | 43.3 ± 3.6 | 45.9 ± 3.8 | 36.3 ± 1.2 | 54.5 ± 3.8 |
a
Means ± standard deviations, 4 to 10 complete or defective phages were measured.
b
Morphotype A1 belonged to Myoviridae, and B1 belonged to Siphoviridae.
c
Average yield of virus particles per infected host cell.
d
Minimum length of time from host cell adsorption to lysis.
e
The multiplicity of infection (MOI) is the ratio of adsorbed phage particles to bacteria.
f
Estimated by adding up fragment sizes of phage DNA digested with HindIII. Means ± SD standard deviations of sizes of bands in three profiles were determined.
g
+, sheath present; −, sheath absent.