Genome homology and superinfection immunity between temperate and virulent Lactobacillus delbrueckii bacteriophages.

The presence of short homologous DNA segments along the genomes of the temperate phage mv4 and the virulent phages LL-H, LL-K and JCL1032 of Lactobacillus delbrueckii was demonstrated with Southern hybridizations. One of these segments, the 2,817 nt MIS element of phage mv4, was further characterized by nucleotide sequence analysis and by superinfection immunity studies.