Zur Frage des Zeitpunktes der Entscheidung zwischen abortivem oder rekombinativem Verhalten eines transduzierten Chromosomenfragmentes in der Empfängerzelle
In wild-type transduction of auxotrophic strain E. coli B/r/thr-1/leu-1/ara-12 colonies auxotrophic for leucine or threonine do not all arise at the same time after plating. In such crosses 48 hrs. after plating from about 20% of minute colonies grown from single abortively transduced cells there can be isolated cells capable to form genetically stable colonies prototrophic for leucine or threonine. Turbidity-measurements on cell populations derived from isolated minute colonies prove that such leu+-cells arise on the plate up to at least 96 hrs. after transduction. Linkage-data of the sites leu+-1 or thr+-1 with ara-12 for these cells disprove the occurence of the thr+ or leu+-state by backmutation. Transduction with E. coli B/r/ara-5 as donor with selection for arabinose-fermentation demonstrates the failure of delayed arising leu+ or thr+-cells in crosses yielding no minute colonies caused by abortive transduction. The experiments are discussed as evidence for the occurence of recombination between the acceptor-chromosome and the abortively transduced chromosomal fragment of a donor cell within a minute colony many cell generations after injection of this fragment.