Luria and his colleagues worked with Salmonella phages, and found that certain phages caused the bacteria to lose some of their antigen--the specific polysaccharide on the cell surface that stimulates antibodies in the infected person's immune system--and acquire new antigens. They concluded that the phage was either making new enzymes or activating latent enzymes in the bacteria, because cell enzymes are responsible for making the antigen polysaccharides.
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