MINIATURE escherichia coli CELLS DEFICIENT IN DNA

Abstract
A mutant of an F- E. coli K12 strain frequently undergoes an aberrant cell division near 1 pole of the normal rod-shaped cell. This division yields an unusually small cell which may be separated from the rest of the population and characterized. They contain protein, RNA and traces of DNA. They are enzymatically active and respire but do not divide.