Isolation and characterization of a bacteriophage factor that confers competence for genetic transformation to an exfoliative toxin-producing strain of Staphylococcus aureus.

Competence for genetic transformation in an exfoliative toxin-producing strain of Staphylococcus aureus was shown to be dependent on a virion factor that was isolated from a crude bacteriophage 80 alpha lysate. This competence-conferring factor was completely separated from infectious virus particles after either centrifugation through a neutral sucrose velocity gradient or fractionation on a Sepharose 2B gel. Since the competence-conferring factor tends to aggregate, optimal separation was obtained after treatment of the phage factor with the detergent Nonidet P-40. The competence-conferring factor had a molecular weight between 3 X 10(6) and 20 X 10(6) and an approximate sedimentation coefficient of 252. The factor was neutralized after interaction with antiserum prepared against isolated infectious 80 alpha virions. Electron microscopy of transforming cells that were exposed to isolated competence-conferring factor revealed a significant number of abnormally long and aggregated phage tail-like structures attached to the surface of recipient cells. This phenomenon was only observed in the presence of donor DNA, indicating that a phage tail-DNA-surface receptor complex might be one of the early steps in DNA-mediated transformation of S. aureus.