Infection by Bacteriophage T5 and Its Intracellular Growth—a Study by Complement Fixation

Infection of a susceptible bacterium by a virulent phage particle is followed, after a latent period, by cell lysis and liberation of newly formed phage particles. The infecting particle loses its infectivity shortly after adsorption to the host, a fact attributed to disociation of the particle into a-cell penetrating fraction, consting chiefly of nucleic acid, and an externally persisting fraction, consisting chiefly of protein and con-taining at least some of the principal phage antigens (Hershey and Chase, 1952). The study of the intracellular development of virus antigens, initiated with influenza v