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Transmembrane Cation Movements during Infection of Lactobacillus lactis by Bacteriophage LL-H

T. Alatossava^1,

¹ Department of Microbiology, Biozentrum
and² Institute of Analytical Inorganic Chemistry, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

Phage LL-H-induced cation (K⁺, Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cd²⁺) movements in Lactobacillus lactis bacteria have been studied. The effects of the m.o.i. and external cation concentration have been quantified. LL-H-induced effluxes showed cation specificity: K⁺ but practically no Mg²⁺ was lost during LL-H infection at low and moderate m.o.i. (up to about 100). Simultaneously to K⁺ efflux, divalent cation influxes were observed. These were dependent on the m.o.i. and on concentrations of external divalent cations and were concomitant with phage DNA transport, as concluded from the timing of the first phage-promoted biochemical changes in host cell metabolism and from electron microscopical observations. Host energy was not mobilized with phage-induced divalent cation influx. Several features of divalent cation influxes support the view that divalent cations have to be cotransported into the cell as counterions of LL-H DNA. Phage DNA associated with divalent cations may be the basic feature of the divalent cation dependence of LL-H infection.

Keywords: phage LL-H, cation movements, phage DNA transport

Present address: Department of Genetics, University of Oulu, SF-90570 Oulu, Finland.

Received 2 December 1986; accepted 11 March 1987.