Streptomycin Induction of Premature Lysis of Bacteriophage-infected Mycobacteria.

Streptomycin produces multiple effects in growing cultures of bacteria, including stimulation of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and inhibition of protein synthesis (Erdos and Ullman, Nature 183:618, 1959), interference with ribosomal function (Speyer et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S. 48:684, 1962), deranged deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and RNA metabolism, and changes in membrane integrity (Dubin et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 74:476, 1962; Dubin, J. Mol. Biol. 8:749, 1964; Anand et al., Nature 185:23, 1960). To date, a definitive theory on the mechanism of action of streptomycin has not been formulated. Although the importance of a direct action on ribosomes is well established, which of the other effects are secondary to the ribosomal damage and which, if any, are primary effects of streptomycin is not known. The experiments described here show that streptomycin affects the kinetics of lysis of phage-infected mycobacteria. High