Summary
Bacterial mutants tolerant to bacteriophages ϕ 15 and ϕ 29 were isolated from early-blocked asporogenous mutants ofBacillus subtilis 168. These mutants are able to adsorb phages but are not killed by them.
Two classes of tolerant mutants were recognized:tolA mutants which are tolerant to ϕ 15 but not ϕ 29, andtolB mutants which are tolerant to both phages. Although the parental strain (spoA12) used for the isolation of thetol mutants is a pleiotropic negative mutant, alltol mutants which have been examined have regained some wild type traits. Genetic studies have shown that thesetol mutants are neither revertants nor suppressor mutants of thespoA gene. Thesetol mutants affect bothspoA andspoB mutations. These mutants do not sporulate and they do not lyse as rapidly as the parental strain. All these results are consistent with the hypothesis that they are all cell envelope mutants.
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Ito, J. Pleiotropic nature of bacteriophage tolerant mutants obtained in early-blocked asporogenous mutants ofBacillus subtilis 168. Molec. Gen. Genet. 124, 97–106 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265143
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00265143