Transduction of Flagellar Characters in Salmonella

Abstract

Phage lysates of a Salmonella strain can transduce flagellar characters from the one strain to a 2d strain which absorbs the phage. Non-motile strains treated with lysates of other strains produce stable motile forms detected as spreading swarms in semi-solid agar. O-strains of known spp. produce swarms with the H-antigens characteristic of their own sp. The production of swarms by O-strains when treated with lysates of other O-strains serves as a basis for dividing 9 Salmonella typhimurium O-strains into 6 interacting groups. Two flagellated but non-motile strains produce motile forms when treated with lysates of other strains or of each other. In exceptional instances 2 flagellar characters are transduced simultaneously. Many distinct genes control the presence, antigenic character and function of the flagella. They may form part of an ordered gene array in which pairs of genes, which are sometimes simultaneously transduced by a single phage particle, presumably are linked closely.