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Morphological manifestations of freezing and thawing injury in bacteriophage T4Bo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

P. R. M. Steele
P. R. M. Steele
Affiliation:
University Department of Pathology, Cambridge, England
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Electron microscopic observation of negatively stained preparations of frozen and thawed suspensions of T4Bo phage clearly separated the morphological changes produced by low-temperature salt denaturation from those produced by eutectic phase changes. Salt denaturation caused contraction of tail sheaths. Eutectic phase changes appeared to cause two separate lesions. Firstly the tail sheath was disjointed 18–22 nm. below the collar and the tail core was disjointed at 40–60 nm. below the collar, giving rise to separated heads with a small tail remnant, and separated tails in which the sheath remarkably remained in its extended form. Secondly, tears were seen in the head membranes of particles with collapsed empty heads. In all the experiments the percentage of normal phage particles counted electron-microscopically was close to the percentage of viable phage as determined by plaque assay.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , August 1976 , pp. 119 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

References

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