ISSN:
0091-7419
Keywords:
Life Sciences
;
Molecular Cell Biology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Satellite phage P4 causes the head proteins of a helper phage, such as P2, to form a small head. This small head is never found in cells infected by the helper virus alone. This finding, coupled with the dominance of P4 over its helper, indicates that the P4 genome has the potential for specific head size determination. Satellite phage P4 codes for a late protein which is found in the P4 head (45 copies/head). This protein may determine head size. Our finding that the small size of P4 DNA does not determine small head size in an in vitro DNA packaging system lends further support to the idea that a P4 protein determines small head size.Formation of P2 headlike structures is accompanied by cleavage of P2 head proteins. Cleavage of the major head protein precursor can be observed in vitro after lysis of infected cells with lysozyme. The rate of this in vitro reaction is not affected by deoxyribonuclease; thus there cannot be a tight coupling between DNA packaging and the cleavage of the major capsid protein.
Additional Material:
9 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jss.400020223
