Mutants of Escherichia coli with High Minimal Temperatures of Growth

Abstract

O'Donovan, Gerard A. (University of California, Davis), Catherine L. Kearney, and John L. Ingraham . Mutants of Escherichia coli with high minimal temperatures of growth. J. Bacteriol. 90: 611–616. 1965.—Three general classes of mutants showing increased minimal temperatures of growth have been isolated from Escherichia coli . These mutants do not grow at temperatures below 20 C, although their parents can grow at temperatures as low as 8 C. The first class of mutants (K-I) cannot grow below 20 C in either complex or minimal medium, but grows at nearly normal rates at 37 C on both types of media. Normal growth rate at 20 C can be conferred on these mutants by infection at a low multiplicity with a transducing phage grown on the parent. The second class of mutants (K-II) fails to grow only in minimal medium at 20 C. These mutants are characterized by their singular response to specific nutrients in minimal medium at 20 C. The third class of mutants (K-III) grows normally in minimal medium at all temperatures with either glucose or glycerol as the carbon source, but does not grow at 20 C with lactose as the carbon source.