Abstract
QUANTITATIVE mass conversion of bacteria to protoplasts and unstable L phase variants and the reverse process are probably not mutational events. The transition from unstable L phase variants to stable L phase variants, however, probably reflects a fundamental genetic change, although this is still in dispute1. Increasing circumstantial biochemical data support this but genetic evidence is virtually non-existent. Several stable L phase variants, when compared with the protoplasts or bacteria from which they were derived by non-mutational induction procedures, are lacking in certain wall components2,3 and part of the DNA4, and possibly defective in stages of wall biosynthesis5,6, and to possess altered membrane constituents7,8, all of which may reflect an inability to carry out proper wall formation.
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WYRICK, P., MCCONNELL, M. & ROGERS, H. Genetic Transfer of the Stable L Form State to Intact Bacterial Cells. Nature 244, 505–507 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244505a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/244505a0
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