Susceptibility of E. coli K-12 to Actinomycin D after Infection with Phage M13

Abstract

Escherichia coli cells are normally impermeable to the antibiotic actinomycin D¹ which inhibits DNA-dependent RNA synthesis² and the consequent inducible enzyme synthesis. Leive has shown that after treatment with EDTA, E. coli cells are more susceptible to actinomycin D³ and that a lipopolysaccharide is released from the cell wall⁴. We have confirmed the observation⁵ that E. coli cells also release a lipopolysaccharide into the medium after infection with the small filamentous phage M13 (unpublished results). Here we show that M13 infected cells are permeable to actinomycin D. It should be noted that M13 infected cells continue to grow and multiply while releasing progeny phage particles^6,7.