Some properties of a bacteriophage from Bacillus larvae

Abstract

Cultures of Bacillus larvae isolated from a wide variety of honey-bee sources in the northern plains area were uniformly sensitive to antibiotics regardless of the previous history of the infections. Many strains harbored bacteriophages which were lytic for other strains and a variety of patterns of lysogeny and sensitivity were seen. A single step growth curve of phage on a Saskatchewan strain, 32A, displayed a latent period extending to 120 min and a burst size of 30 infectious particles per cell. The free phage survived 60°C for 1 hr at pH 7.4, but was rapidly inactivated at lower pH levels at 37°C. The phage preparation produced minute plaques on strain 12A but yielded plaques of 1 mm and 2 mm on other host strains tested.