Properties of four temperate bacteriophages active on Clostridium perfringens type A.

Four temperature bacteriophages (designated as PF1, PF2, PF3 and PF4) were isolated from lysogenic strains of Clostridium perfringens type A. On the basis of plaque morphology, pH stability, DNase and RNase resistance, buoyant density, one-step growth parameters and electron microscope phage dimensions, it seems that these phages are different and unrelated. Calcium was required for better phage replication. Bacterial strain S107 appears to be the only UV-inducible strain as compared with the other three lysogenic strains. PF2 has a unique pattern of pH stability showing two optima values: one at pH 5 and the second at pH 8-9. Generally, all four phages have a better resistance in acid than in alkaline pH values. The CsC1 equilibrium centrifugation patterns reveal low figures for phage PF1, PF2 and PF3 and show off the fact that PF4 lysates contain two viral particules different with respect to their densities, a property which other determinations failed to demonstrate. Each phage, except PF4, is well characterized by the parameters of the one-step growth cycle.