Abiotic factors are thought to be primarily responsible for the loss of bacteriophages from the environment, but ingestion of phages by heterotrophs may also play a role in their elimination. Tetrahymena thermophila has been shown to ingest and inactivate bacteriophage T4 in co-incubation experiments. In this study, other Tetrahymena species were co-incubated with T4 with similar results. In addition, T. thermophila was shown to inactivate phages T5 and lambda in co-incubations. Several approaches, including direct visualization by electron microscopy, demonstrated that ingestion is required for T4 inactivation. Mucocysts were shown to have no role in the ingestion of T4. When (35)S-labeled T4 were fed to T. thermophila in a pulse-chase experiment, the degradation of two putative capsid proteins, gp23(*) and hoc, was observed. In addition, a polypeptide with the apparent molecular mass of 52 kDa was synthesized. This suggests that Tetrahymena can use phages as a minor nutrient source in the absence of bacteria.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.