If no plaques were observed when neat phage suspensions of 1010 p.f.u ml-1 were used, Selleckchem Dorsomorphin an eop value < 1x10-9 was recorded. Spontaneous phage production by all seven PLPLs was higher than that associated with LESB58, by 5–6 orders of magnitude (P < 0.05) (Figure 3). These data suggest that LES prophages are less stable in PAO1, with significantly higher rates of spontaneous

lytic phage production than in LESB58. Selleck LXH254 Little difference was observed in the levels of spontaneous phage production between single, double and triple PAO1 lysogens. Figure 3 Spontaneous lysis exhibited by LES phages in PAO1 vs LESB58. Phage production was quantified from filtered culture supernatants of un-induced mid-exponential phase cultures using standard plaque assay. Standard deviation is shown (n = 3). LES phages integrate at the same sites in different bacterial host strains Southern blot analysis was used to demonstrate that lysogenic instability was not due to integration of the LES phages into unstable sites of the naive PAO1 chromosome, or from multiple integration events of the same phage (Figure 4). LESφ2 and LESφ3 integrated as single copies at identical locations in LESB58 and PAO1 chromosomes. Figure 4 Southern analysis of LES phage integration sites in LESB58 and PAO1. Southern blot analysis to determine LES phage copies and integration sites in LESB58 and

PLPL chromosomes: A) PstI digested LES phage lysogens hybridised to LESφ2 integrase (int) probe; B) DraIII digested LES phage lysogens hybridised G418 chemical structure to LESφ3 integrase probe; C) AcuI digested LES phage lysogens hybridised to LESφ4 cI probe. PDK4 A diagrammatical representation of the restriction pattern is presented below each blot. This demonstrates the expected

size of fragments that would hybridise each probe in the event of single phage integration (one band) or integration of two identical prophages in tandem (two bands). For clarity, the second phage copy has been shaded in grey. The 2-band pattern would also result if any additional phage copies were present in circular form. The LESφ2 int probe hybridised to an additional DNA fragment in all lysogens containing LESφ2, including LESB58. The size of the additional hybridised fragment corresponds to one of two possibilities: 1) the integration of a second LESφ2 copy in to the chromosome directly downstream of the first; 2) an extra copy of LESφ2 in circular form (Figure 4). The published LESB58 genome sequence clearly shows a single LESφ2 copy in the chromosome. Since the hybridisation pattern of the PAO1 LESφ2 lysogen matches that of LESB58, a second chromosomal copy can be ruled out. This suggests that the extra copy is circular, which may represent phage replication resulting from spontaneous activation of the lytic life cycle. Alternatively, the extra copy may indicate pseudolysogeny, in which stable circular copies are maintained.