The Inactivation of Bacteriophage by Mercury Bichloride; the Reactivation of Bichloride- Inactivated Phage by A. P. Krueger and D. M. Baldwin

There are at the present time two schools of thought with reference to the nature of bacteriophage. One group, championed chiefly by d'Herelle and Burner, considers phage to consist of living "corpuscles," while the other group views the lyric principle as partaking of all the major characteristics of an enzyme. A study of the kinetics of the bacterium-bacteriophage reaction by Krueger and Northrop (1, 2), together with additional data reported by Krueger concerning first, the sorption of bacteriophage by living and by dead bacteria (3) and second, the heat inactivation of bacteriophage (4), gave indirect information tending to support the enzyme concept of phage. During further experimental work one of us (A. P. K.) on several occasions noted apparent significant reversals of phage inactivation. These data were interpreted as indicating either the independent multiplication of residual active phage in the absence of growing bacterla--a phenomenon not hitherto proven to occur--or the reactivation of inactivated phage, a reaction common to many enzymes. The present paper details experiments undertaken to investigate the inactivation of antistaphylococcus bacteriophage by HgC12 and the reversal of the process.