Prophage-mediated production of a bacteriocinlike substance by SPβ lysogens of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Cultures of Bacillus subtilis lysogenic for the temperature bacteriophage SP beta release "betacin", a bacteriocinlike substance that inhibits B. subtilis strains which do not carry this phage. Production of betacin is blocked by mutations in the bet gene on the prophage and a second phage gene, tol, is apparently involved in making the lysogen itself tolerant to betacin. Mutations in a bacterial gene betR, located on the B. subtilis chromosome between metC and pyrD, render nonlysogens tolerant to betacin.

Three New Temperate Phages of Bacillus subtilis

“…A similar effect was observed for strains of B. subtilis lysogenic for phages Z (Hemphill et al, 1980) and SPR (Noyer-Weidner et al, 1983). Production of betacin is associated with tolerance to it.…”

“…The conversion to thymine prototrophy was stable. In this respect, the new phages are similar to 43T (Tucker, 1969), pl 1 (Dean et al, 1976), Z (Hemphill et al, 1980) and SPR (Noyer-Weidner et al, 1983), but not to SPP or the other phages.…”

“…Production of and tolerance to betacin Strains of B. subtilis 168 carrying SPP produce a bacteriocin-like substance which inhibits the growth of B. subtilis strains that are not lysogenic for this phage (Hemphill et al, 1980). A similar effect was observed for strains of B. subtilis lysogenic for phages Z (Hemphill et al, 1980) and SPR (Noyer-Weidner et al, 1983).…”

“…Some derivatives of temperate bacteriophages of Bacillus subtilis are potentially useful as vectors in molecular cloning (Dean et al, 1978 b ;Kreft & Hughes, 1981). This encouraged us to examine soil for other phages, and in this paper we report the isolation of three new phages.…”

“…Preliminary data on two of them have been published (Fernandes et al, 1983). We compared the new viruses with the following temperate B. subtilis phages: 43T (Tucker, 1969), 4105 (Birdsell et al, 1969), SP02 (Boice, 1969), SP16 (Thorne & Mele, 1974), SPP (Warner et al, 1977), p l l (Dean et al, 1976), p6, p10, p14 (Dean et al, 1978a), Zeta (Z) (Hemphill et al,, 1980) and SPR (Trautner et al, 1980; Noyer-Weidner et al, 1983).…”