THE EFFECT OF THE HOST ON THE PROPERTIES AND SENSITIVITY OF A BACTERIAL VIRUS'

Isotopic experiments with bacterial viruses (Hershey, 1953) have shown that upon infection there is a transfer of virus nucleic acid material to the susceptible host. It is probable that the virus multiplication proes is initiated by this nucleic acid material, or units, by specifically superimposing a virus synthetic mechanism upon the normal metabolic activities of the host (Pardee and Williams, 1953). This is of great interest since many viruses are multi-host, and therefore such viruses must be capable of specifically redirecting the synthetic abilities of more than one host to produce specific virus. Although the nature of this direction is obscure, it may be possible to gain some information concerning the size and uniformity of these units as they may exist in more than one host by the use of inactivating agents. This report concerms the effect of three bacterial hosts on the properties and the sensitivity of one specific bacterial virus. MATERIALS AND METHOD