Summary
Twenty-two amber mutants of the thermoinducible mutator phage Mu-c4ts were isolated. These mutants fall into 11 complementation groups. The data obtained by crossing these amber mutants suggest that bacteriophage Mu-1 has a linear vegetative linkage map. In a recombination deficient host of the RecA type the recombination frequencies are extremely low, indicating that Mu-1, in contrast to many other E. coli phages, is dependent on the recombination system of its host. With λ as a helper phage, recombination between Mu phages in a RecA host is restored to about 1/3 of the frequency in a Rec+ host. Although Mu-1 is able to integrate efficiently into the chromosome of a RecA strain, it seems that its integration system does not contribute to vegetative recombination.
The survival of UV-irradiated Mu-1 was measured on different radiation sensitive mutants of E. coli. The survival on a UvrB strain was very low as compared to the wild-type; the survival on a RecA strain was almost the same as on the wild-type.
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Communicated by P. Starlinger
Research Fellow from the Laboratory of Genetics, State University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Wijffelman, C.A., Westmaas, G.C. & van de Putte, P. Vegetative recombination of bacteriophage Mu-1 in Escherichia coli . Molec. gen. Genet. 116, 40–46 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334258
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334258