Authors: Tamaz Mdzinarashvili Irina Papukashvili Nino Shengelia Mariam Khvedelidze
Publish Date: 2014/08/06
Volume: 69, Issue: 6, Pages: 858-865
Abstract
According to the obtained experimental results the thermal shock from 37 to 53 °C not only stops the multiplication process of Escherichia coli bacteria but also causes bacterial titer to decrease gradually After this period lasting up to 1 hour the bacterial cells continue to grow A similar type of response was observed when bacteria were subjected to acid shock Increasing acidity of media leads to decrease of bacterial growth process and finally their titer curve sharply falls over time Also interesting results were obtained about necessary conditions for infecting the bacteria by phages Particularly DNA injection from phages into bacterial cells requires most of corresponding bacterial membrane receptors to be occupied by phages We suppose that this occurs due to autocrine phenomenon when the signaling molecules block the DNA ejection from phage particles This effect lasts until a certain number of phage particles are attached to the membrane After that DNA injection from phage head into the cytoplasm takes place and the process of bacterial infection begins The real number of phages in a stock is by several orders higher than the number of plaqueforming units in a given stock which is determined by a classical doublelayer agar methodWe are grateful to Prof Parthasarathy for his permission use the electron microscope photo A of phages on the surface of bacteria With arrow one phage is shown from which DNA ejection occurs into a bacterial cell This work was supported by Shota Rustaveli Georgian National Science Foundation grants GNSF 369 and GNSF/CNRS 560
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