Physicochemical characterization of cyanophage SM-2

Cyanophage SM-2 which infects two unicellular cyanobacteria, Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 563 and Microcystis aeruginosa NRC-1 (Synechococcus sp. NRC-1) UTEX 1937 has a buoyant density of 1.483 g/cm³, a DNA buoyant density of 1.729 g/cm³ and a guanine + cytosine (G+C) content of 69–70%. The protein patterns of cyanophage SM-2 particles showed 11 bands, as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, with the bulk of the protein mass concentrated at the 39,000 Mr band. There appear to be no cross-reacting anibodies to whole virus particles of cyanophages SM-1, SM-2 and AS-1. Cyanophage SM-2 requires the presence of cations for viral stability.