Fumiko Kojima

Morphological features of a filamentous phage of Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal.

A filamentous phage was isolated from carrier strain AI‐1841 of Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal and thus was termed fs phage. The phage was measured to be approximately 1 μm in length and 6 nm in width. One end of the phage was slightly tapered and had a fibrous appendage. The plaques developed on strain AI‐4450 of V. cholerae O139 were small and turbid. The phage grew in strain AI‐4450 and reached a size of 108 to 109 pfu/ml at 5 hr after infection without inducing any lysis of the host bacteria. The group of phages attached on rod‐shaped materials like fimbriae of this bacteria, with their fibrous appendages at the pointed end, were often found in the phage‐infected culture. The anti‐fimbrial serum effectively inhibited the infection of fs phage to the host strain AI‐4450. We thus concluded that the phage can be adsorbed on fimbriae with a fibrous appendage on the pointed end of the phage filament.