NUTRITIONAL MUTATIONS AND TRANSDUCTION BY ULTRAVIOLET-INACTIVATED PHAGE IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

Abstract

Carere, A., and Isabella Spada-Sermonti (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy). Nutritional mutations and transduction by ultraviolet-inactivated phage in Staphylococcus aureus . J. Bacteriol. 88: 226–232. 1964.—By use of a semisynthetic medium, various nutritional mutants of Staphylococcus aureus 80 were isolated. Most of them require purine derivatives. From their mutation pattern, it may be inferred that guanine can be converted to both guanilic and adenilic acid, and adenine to the latter only. Guanosine, hypoxanthine, and inosine appear to be intermediate in the synthesis of adenilic acid from exogenous guanine. Transduction of several nutritional markers was obtained by streaking phage 80 obtained from the donor strain onto selective media heavily seeded with the recipient strain. To prevent lysis, the phage was previously ultraviolet-inactivated.