Bacteriophages of Clostridium botulinum

Abstract

Temperate bacteriophages of diverse morphology were demonstrated by electron microscopy in toxigenic cultures of Clostridium botulinum. The 41 strains examined included 23 type E and multiple representatives of all other types. Cultures induced with mitomycin-C generally gave better yields, but phages were also demonstrable in untreated cultures.A provisional grouping of toxigenic types into four categories is suggested, based mainly upon associated phage patterns. Group 1 comprises types A, B, and F (all proteolytic), many of whose cultures showed an icosahedral contractile phage; others contained a "bullrushy" phage with elongated head and long flexible tail; some strains yielded both. Group 2, types B and F (non-proteolytic), were associated with icosahedral contractile phages; the latter also had an octahedral flexible phage. Group 3, types C and D, yielded conspicuously large phages with octahedral heads and very long sheathed tails. One type C strain produced a long-tailed icosahedral phage. Type E phages constituted group 4. These were icosahedral with tails generally contracted but sometimes flexible, often accompanied by superfluous sheathed tail-like structures resembling certain bacteriocins. Although non-toxigenic "OS" mutants of types A, B, E, and F were phageless, two non-toxic type E strains yielded phages. The possible role of lysogeny in the toxigenicity of certain types of this species is likely to prove difficult to elucidate.