Action of penicillin G on endosymbiote lambda particles of Paramecium aurelia.

The kinetics of loss from the cytoplasm and changes in ultrastructure of symbiont lambda particles after treatment of axenically cultivated lambda-bearing Paramecium aurelia with penicillin G was investigated. Low concentrations (1 to 2 unit/ml) of the antibiotic caused many particles within the cell to become filamentous; high concentrations (2,000 unit/ml) caused lysis of the particles without noticeably affecting the protozoan. The ED(50) value (2 to 3 unit/ml) was within the range of values found to cause lysis of many gram-negative bacteria. Rapidly dividing lambda were more vulnerable to the action of the antibiotic than slowly dividing particles. Nondividing particles were not affected by exposure to the antibiotic. Ultrastructural changes observed in lambda during lysis by penicillin G were consistent with the view that penicillin interferes with the synthesis of a vital component of the cell envelope of the particle, possibly a peptidoglycan similar to that found in the cell walls of bacteria. The deoxyribonucleic acid of lambda was dispersed throughout the particle as electron dense fibers enclosed within electron transparent areas. The cell envelope appeared to consist of at least two morphologically distinguishable layers, an inner layer homologous to the plasma membrane of bacteria and an outer layer homologous to the bacterial cell wall. Lambda may be regarded as a randomly distributed population of bacteria growing and dividing synchronously within the collective cytoplasm of its protozoan host.