A Bacterial Virus for Actinomyces griseus.

Attack by bacterial viruses on members of the genus Actinomyces has been reported in only a few instances, but bacteriophages which attack Eumycetes are prevalent. Many industrial processes which employ bacteria are subject, to bacteriophage infestations. The isolation of bacteriophage from soil and sewage may be easily accomplished, but soil cannot be considered an abundant source of actinophage. Isolations of actinomycetes are usually made from fertile soils; however, evidence of phage action is seldom noted. A transmissible and filterable lytic agent, which attacks actinomycetes, was reported by Wieringa and Wiebols (1936). This particular phenomenon may be explained' as being due to the action of a polyvalent actinophage which initiated lysis not only of the parent culture but also of several other species. There are other reports of lysis of Actinomyces for which actinophages could not be demonstrated. However, the methods used would fail to demonstrate the actinophage for Actinomyces griseus (Dmitrieff and Sout6eff, 1936; Katznelson, 1940). Accompanying the recent large-scale industrial utilization of actinomycetes for the production of antibiotic substances, study of the group has been intensified (Schatz, Bugie, and Waksman, 1944; Porter, 1946). The accumulative generations of growth of the cultures, constantly subject to chance contamination through faulty air filtration or insufficiently sterile laboratory and plant equipment and through errors in techniques, have made it highly probable that actinophages would be rediscovered for actinomycetes. In fact, a recent report indicated that an actinophage has been isolated from the streptomycin fermentation (Saudek and Colingsworth, 1947).