PHAGE FORMATION IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS MUSCAE CULTURES X. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRUS SYNTHESIS, THE RELEASE 0]? BACTERIAL RIBONUCLEIC ACID, VIRUS LIBERATION, AND CELLULAR LYSlS BY WINSTON H. PRICE*

Previous experiments have indicated that infected cells of strain I of S. muscae may release phage under certain conditions without lysing (1). Lwoff and Gutman have recently suggested that the phage is actually liberated while the sample is being diluted for the phage assay, with the cells undergoing lysis at this time (2). I t therefore seemed desirable to repeat these experiments in such a way as to rule out this possibility. Earlier experiments have shown that infected cells release ribonucleic acid into the medium shortly after infection and before any virus is liberated (3). Uninfected cells do not release ribonucleic acid into the medium (3). Recently, various systems have been found in which the virus is adsorbed to the host cell and kills it but no virus is released (4). The evidence indicates that under these latter conditions no virus material is synthesized (4). Using these systems, it was possible to study in a more precise manner the relationship between virus synthesis, the release of bacterial ribonucleic acid, and cellular lysis. The experiments reported in this paper show that infected cells of strain I of S, muscae release ribonucleic acid and virus into the medium before cellular lysis begins. Cells of strain III, however, infected under the conditions used to infect strain I, lyse and liberate virus simultaneously, although yielding smaller amounts of phage. Further experiments show that under certain conditions S. muscae cells may be infected with one or a few phage particles and be killed without synthesizing any new virus, or releasing ribonucleic acid into the medium, or lysing.