Identification and study of species specificity of antiphage lipopolysaccharides found in the preparations of bacterial DNA.

A method of isolation of the antiphage agent found in the preparations of bacterial DNA was developed. Chemical analysis of the preparations has shown that according to their qualitative and quantitative composition they are identical to the lipopolysaccharide of the bacterial membrane. On the basis of data on the antiphage activity of the D-LPS from E. coli B and E. coli K12 and on the basis of presumed analogy between the inactivation of the phage by the D-LPS preparations and the phage--cell interaction it is believed that different parts of the LPS serve as receptors for the phages T7 and T4: O-specific polysaccharide for T4 and core LPS for T7. On the basis of data on the activity of D-LPS of two species of the genus Aerobacter against the phage T7 it is presumed that Aerobacer and Escherichia are related according to the structure of their core LPS.