Bacteriophage f2 explained

Bacteriophage f2 is an icosahedral, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that infects the bacterium Escherichia coli.^[1] It is closely related to bacteriophage MS2 and assigned to the same species.^[2]

History

f2 was the first RNA-containing bacteriophage to be isolated, reported in 1961.^[3] Tim Loeb and Norton Zinder searched for and discovered two phages in filtered samples of raw New York City sewage that grew on male (F+) but not female (F−) E. coli. The first phage was f1, which produced cloudy plaques; the second phage was f2, which produced clear plaques.

Notes and References

1. Book: van Duin . J. . Tsareva . N. . Single-stranded RNA phages. Chapter 15 . 175–196 . Calendar . R. L. . The Bacteriophages . limited . Second . Oxford University Press . 2006 . 0195148509 .
2. van Duin J, van den Wor S . 2005 . The Positive Sense Single Stranded RNA Viruses . Virus Taxonomy . 739–1128 . 10.1016/B978-0-12-249951-7.50015-8 . 7332303 . 9780122499517 .
3. Loeb . T. . Zinder . N. D. . A bacteriophage containing RNA . . 1961 . 47 . 3 . 282–289 . 10.1073/pnas.47.3.282. 221572 . 13763053. 1961PNAS...47..282L . free .