Chemical studies in host-virus interactions; a comparison of some properties of three mutant pairs of bacterial viruses, T2r and T2r, T4r and T4r, T6r and T6r.

Various chemical and physiological aspects of the reproductive cycles of r(+) and r strains of T2, T4, and T6 viruses have been examined and compared. These include the ultraviolet absorption spectra in which differences between r and r(+) strains were not observed, though they were obtained in the case of T2, T4, and T6. Adsorption of T4 and T6 was found to require the adsorption cofactor l-tryptophane. Among the r and r(+) strains of these viruses limiting tryptophane requirements for adsorption were found to be different. Some differences were observed in the one-step growth curves of these viruses under conditions of single and multiple infection. The turbidity-time relations of infected cultures were characteristically different. The rates of DNA and protein synthesis in the infected cells were found to be independent of the viruses used. Certain implications of the data have been discussed.