Increasing salinity reduces burst size and increases the latent period of infection of Halobacterium cutirubrum by lytic bacteriophage S5100. Cells become reversibly and persistently infected at saturation-level concentrations of NaCl. We propose that high salinity provides a natural refuge for sensitive host bacteria and that phage S5100 acts as a scavenger, proliferating when host viability is threatened by dilution of the environment.
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Daniels et al. (1990) studied this question.