Open AccessBacteriophage T 4 can produce progeny virions in extremely slowly growing E scherichia coli host: comparison of a mathematical model with the experimental data
Author(s) -
Golec Piotr,
KarczewskaGolec Joanna,
Łoś Marcin,
Węgrzyn Grzegorz
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/1574-6968.12372
Subject(s) - chemostat , escherichia coli , bacteriophage , doubling time , biology , host (biology) , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , limiting , genetics , cell , gene , mechanical engineering , engineering
Development of bacteriophage T 4 depends on the physiological state of its host cell. Based on previous studies performed under laboratory conditions with different media determining various growth rates of E scherichia coli , a mathematical model was developed which suggested that phage T 4 development cannot proceed efficiently in bacteria growing with a doubling time longer than 160 min. Contrary to this prediction, using a chemostat culture system allowing for culturing E . coli at different growth rates without changes in the medium composition, we found that T 4 can yield progeny in host cells growing with a doubling time as long as 21 h. Our results indicate that the actual limiting growth rate of the host culture for the development of phage T 4 is about 0.033 h −1 , corresponding to the doubling time of about 21 h.