Structural characteristics of the Corynebacterium lilium bacteriophage CL31.

Bacteriophage CL31 was isolated on a Corynebacterium lilium strain. Out of 30 strains tested, only CL31 was able to form plaques on Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13287, Brevibacterium lactofermentum ATCC 21086, and Arthrobacter sp. strain SI55, but at a very low frequency. This phage belongs to group B of Bradley's classification (D. E. Bradley, Bacteriol. Rev. 31:230-314; 1967). Its head is 53 nm in diameter, and its tail is 396 nm in length. The phage capsid contains three major proteins, of 12.5, 29.0, and 37.0 kilodaltons, and five minor ones (23.9, 26.0, 27.0, 40.0, and 55.4 kilodaltons). CL31 DNA is a linear molecule of 48 kilobases with cohesive ends. Restriction mapping was performed for endonucleases BglII, EcoRI, SalI, and KpnI. The expression of CL31 genes in Escherichia coli was studied by the maxicell technique; 12 different proteins were detected.