Maturation of bacteriophage 9NA DNA is influenced by the fatty acid composition of the host cell membrane.
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Date
1994-06
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Abstract
The fatty acid composition of the membrane of the conditional auxotroph fabB2
can be altered by allowing the cells to grow at non-permissive temperature (37°C) in the
presence of a cis-unsaturated fatty acid. The phage 9NA, a virulent phage of Salmonella
typhimurium, can not multiply in fabB2. Synthesis and maturation of the phage DNA are
differentially affected by variation in the fatty acid composition of the cell membrane. The
replicating DNA associates with the membrane complex, the site of DNA synthesis. The
association is comparatively weak in oleic, claidic, palmitoleic, palmitelaidic and linolelaidic
acid enriched cells. When the cells are grown in the presence of palmitoleic acid, a large
pool of concatemeric phage DNA accumulates in the cytoplasm within 10 min of infection.
The conversion of concatemeric DNA to monomeric one i.e., mature phage length DNA,
is inhibited in such cells. The presence of concatemeric DNA can be visualized by electron
microscope. Such a situation is not observed when the cells are grown in media supplemented
with other types of unsaturated fatty acids. The mechanism by which the host cell membrane
lipid controls phage development is yet to be worked out.
Description
Keywords
DNA maturation, bacteriophage 9NA, fatty acid auxotroph
Citation
Goyal Ruby, Sasane Grace, Majumdar Sabita, Chakravorty Maharani. Maturation of bacteriophage 9NA DNA is influenced by the fatty acid composition of the host cell membrane. Journal of Biosciences. 1994 Jun; 19(2): 183-192.