Chapter X 



Radiobiology of Bacteriophage 



Franklin W. Stahl 



Norman W. Church Laboratory for Chemical Biology, California Institute of 



Technology, Pasadena, California ^ 



I. Introduction 353 



A. Introductory Remarks 353 



B. Target Theory 355 



II. Ultraviolet Irradiation of T-Even Bacteriophage 357 



A. Irradiation of T4 357 



1 . Inactivation of Infectivity 357 



2. Multiplicity Reactivation 358 



3. Cross Reactivation 361 



4. Inactivation of Genie Function 367 



5. Multiplicity Reactivation of T4 in Cells of Escherichia coli KI2 (A) . . . . 368 



B. Comparative Radiobiology of T2 and T4 371 



1. Photoreactivation 371 



2. Genetic Control of Sensitivity to Ultraviolet Light 372 



C. Irradiation of Infected Cells 373 



1 . Luria-Latarjet Experiment 373 



2. Effects of Ultraviolet Light on Vegetative Phage 376 



III. The Inactivation of T-Even Phage by the Decay of Incorporated P^'' 



(Suicide) 376 



A. Basic Procedures 376 



1 . Preparation of Radioactive Phage 376 



2. Survival Curves 376 



B. Cross and Multiplicity Reactivation 377 



C. Luria-Latarjet Experiments 378 



IV. X-Ray Inactivation of T-Even Phage 379 



A. Survival of Infectivity 379 



B. Multiplicity and Cross Reactivation 379 



C. Luria-Latarjet Experiments 380 



V. A Survey of Other Phages 380 



A. Introductory Remarks 380 



B. Survival of Infectivity 381 



C. Multiplicity and Cross Reactivation 381 



D. The Induction of Mutations by Radiation 382 



VI. Summary and Principal Conclusions 383 



Acknowledgements 384 



References 384 



I. Introduction 

 A. Introductory Remarks 

 We shall consider experiments and hypotheses based on irradiation of 

 ^ Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. 

 VOL. 11—23 353 



