In a cross-test, we examined 55 strains of Citrobacter youngae against each other as potential producers of temperate bacteriophages and as potential sensitive indicators for them. Ten strains (18.2 %) showed the production of phages. Seven different strain-specific spectra of activity (from 1 to 11 strains each) were found. Phage production by 6 strains was inducible with mitomycin C, in 4 strains it was not inducible. The plaques of the phages were more or less turbid, without a lytic halo, tiny to small, 0.2-1.3 mm in diameter. Using a polyclonal, specific anti-lambda serum, all 10 phages were found to be clearly distinct from E. coli lambda phage, the phage 31/47 showing the highest neutralization titre of all. Interspecific tests with 15 strains of 8 species of Enterobacteriaceae revealed not a single case of activity of Citrobacter phages towards any of them. Five phage-immune clones lysogenized with 5 of the phages kept their remaining phage sensitivity spectra, though extended by sensitivity to 1-3 phages; 2 of these strains acquired also sensitivity to phage lambda. The phages belong to the morphotypes of Myoviridae (6 phages) and Siphoviridae (4 phages), with head diameters of 51-58 nm and tail length of 97-173 nm. Three strains produced corpuscular bacteriocins.

Department of Biology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University 662 43 Brno Czechia

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Zentralbl Bakteriol Mikrobiol Hyg A. 1987 Jun;265(1-2):74-81 PubMed

Intervirology. 1979;12(3-5):129-296 PubMed

J Gen Microbiol. 1965 Nov;41(2):151-4 PubMed

C R Acad Hebd Seances Acad Sci D. 1967 Nov 13;265(20):1564-7 PubMed

Can J Microbiol. 1972 Jan;18(1):77-81 PubMed

J Hyg Epidemiol Microbiol Immunol. 1987;31(4):441-4 PubMed

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1995 May;61(5):2049-52 PubMed

J Clin Microbiol. 1999 Aug;37(8):2619-24 PubMed

Pathol Biol (Paris). 1976 May;24(5):359 PubMed

New Microbiol. 1999 Apr;22(2):117-27 PubMed

Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1993 Oct;43(4):645-58 PubMed

Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 1973;62:41-59 PubMed

Ann Inst Pasteur (Paris). 1966 Sep;111(3):368-72 PubMed

Occurrence of strains producing specific antibacterial inhibitory agents in five genera of Enterobacteriaceae

Incidence of lysogenic, colicinogenic and siderophore-producing strains among human non-pathogenic Escherichia coli