R-Factor elimination by thymine starvation

R factor elimination during thymine starvation: effects of inhibition of protein synthesis and readdition of thymine.

R factor 1818 is shown to be eliminated from a thymineless strain of Escherichia coli J6-2 (R-1818) during thymine starvation. Readdition of thymine to the starved cultures produces a partial recovery in viable count but does not affect the proportion of R(-) cells. The R factor is not cured from exponential- or stationary-phase cultures which are starved of required amino acids as well as thym...

Loss of deoxyribonucleic acid-thymine during thymine starvation of Escherichia coli.

A substantial loss of deoxyribonucleic acid-thymine occurs during thymine starvation of several thymine auxotrophs derived from Escherichia coli strains B, 15, and K-12.

Trimethoprim action and its analogy with thymine starvation.

In a minimal medium, trimethoprim is merely bacteriostatic on the prototroph Escherichia coli 114. The drug was bactericidal when the amino acids methionine and glycine, plus a purine or purine nucleoside, were also present. This response could be reversed completely when thymine and lysine were added to the culture. Methionine, glycine, and the purine are thought to maintain the integrity of t...

Technique for starvation of Escherichia coli of thymine.

R-factor-mediated nuclease activity involved in thymineless elimination.

R-factor 1818 (R-1818) had no effect on the efficiency of plating of ligase-deficient phage T4 mutants on strains of Escherichia coli containing excess, normal, or defective ligase. However, if the R(+) bacterial strain that overproduced ligase was first starved of thymine, its ability to propagate ligase-deficient phage was reduced by as much as fivefold compared with the burst size on the thy...