Ingestion without Inactivation of Bacteriophages by Tetrahymena

Tetrahymena has been shown to ingest and inactivate bacteriophages, such as T4, in co-incubation experiments. In this study, Tetrahymena thermophila failed to inactivate phages ΦX174 and MS2 in co-incubations, although ΦX174 were ingested by T. thermophila, as demonstrated by: (1) recovery at defecation in a pulse-chase experiment, (2) recovery from Tetrahymena by detergent lysis, and (3) transmission electron microscopy. We conclude, therefore, that the phages must be digestion-resistant. Internalized ΦX174 were further shown to be partially protected from lethal damage by ultraviolet (UV) C and UVB irradiation. Finally, ingested ΦX174 were shown to be rapidly transported through buffer in a horizontal swimming, race tube-like assay. The transport and protection of phages may confer evolutionary advantages that explain the acquisition of digestion-resistance by some phages.