Mucoidy, a general mechanism for maintaining lytic phage in populations of bacteria.

ABSTRACT: We present evidence that phage resistance resulting from overproduction of exopolysaccharides, mucoidy, provides a general answer to the longstanding question of how lytic viruses are maintained in populations dominated by bacteria upon which they cannot replicate. In serial transfer culture, populations of mucoid Escherichia coli MG1655 that are resistant to lytic phages with different receptors, and thereby requiring independent mutations for surface resistance, are capable of maintaining these phages with little effect on their total density. Based on the results of our analysis of a mathematical model, we postulate that the maintenance of phage in populations dominated by mucoid cells can be attributed primarily to high rates of transition from the resistant mucoid states to susceptibl

SUBMITTER: Chaudhry W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7532286 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature