Abstract

CONTENT ALERTS Receive: RSS Feeds, eTOCs, free email alerts (when new articles cite this article), more» Information about commercial reprint orders: http://jb.asm.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml To subscribe to to another ASM Journal go to: http://journals.asm.org/site/subscriptions/ THE TRANSFORMATION OF TYPHOID BACILLI INTO L FORMS UNDER VARIOUS CONDITIONS' 2 L. DIENES, HOWARD J. WEINBERGER, AND SARABELLE MADOFF Department of Pathology and Bacteriology of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Robert W. Lovett Memorial Foundation of Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts Received for publication March 6, 1950 That L type cultures can be isolated from Salmonella typhosa and many other bacterial species on agar plates containing high concentrations of penicillin was reported in previous papers (Dienes, 1948a,b, 1949). Transformation into L forms was observed under various other conditions. It often occurred as a result of spontaneous autolysis of cultures (Dienes, 1942). In Proteus, refrigeration of the cultures, antagonism between strains, and exposure to tap water resulted in the development of these forms (Dienes, 1949). The study of the conditions inducing L transformation has extended over many years. The behavior of various bacilli and cocci was studied in the presence of bacteriostatic agents and after exposure to injuries that bacteria encounter in their natural life.