Abstract
PLASMID-SPECIFIC filamentous bacteriophages have been known to attach to the tips of certain pili present on the surface of their Escherichia coli or Salmonella typhimurium hosts; the synthesis of these appendages is determined by specific plasmids which reside in the host cell1–4. As well as providing receptor sites for such phages, these pili have been found to be essential for the conjugal transfer of the plasmids5–7 and some hypotheses of conjugal transfer consider that they are directly involved in the transfer process6,8. Previously, we have described a filamentous phage IKe, specific for the R factor RM98 and other R factors of the N compatibility group9. Here we describe evidence which indicates the direct attachment of IKe to the surface of its host which lacks an observable pilus-like appendage.
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BRODT, P., LEGGETT, F. & IYER, R. Absence of a pilus receptor for filamentous phage IKe. Nature 249, 856–858 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249856a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/249856a0
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