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Abstract
The ability of T4 bacteriophage to maintain a productive infection changes with the growth phase of its host. During stationary phase, Escherichia coli specifically upregulates the expression of specific proteins and down-regulates others. This causes physiological and genetic changes that have a dramatic effect on the susceptibility of E.coli to T4 infection. Previous studies have indicated that progeny production changes with the length of time spent in stationary phase by E.coli. This study uses a standard plaque assay to observe the effects of E.coli ZK126 culture age and recovery on the ability of T4 to produce progeny. Cells grown for 2, 4, and 7 days were recovered for 2 or 24 hours and subsequently infected with T4. Progeny production was not observed in 2-day old cultures. The 4-day old cultures produced the most progeny following a 24h recovery. The 7-day old cultures could only produce progeny if recovered in New media for 2h, which indicates the presence of inhibitors in spent media. These inhibitors are either preventing infection or inducing a pseudolysogenic T4 growth cycle. Further studies examining T4 infection of stationary phase E.coli will provide useful information pertaining the interaction that occurs between the virus and these cells.