Behavior of bacteriophage Mu DNA upon infecton of Escherichia coli cells

Ljungquist, E., Bukhari, A. I. (1979) Behavior of bacteriophage Mu DNA upon infecton of Escherichia coli cells. Journal of Molecular Biology, 133 (3). pp. 339-357. ISSN 0022-2836

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/231663
DOI: 10.1016/0022-2836(79)90397-8

Abstract

The question whether the ends of bacteriophage Mu DNA are fused to form a ring in host cells is critical to the understanding of the mechanism of integrative recombination between Mu DNA and host DNA. We have examined the fate of 32P-labeled Mu DNA, after infection of sensitive and immune (lysogenic) cells, by sedimentation in sucrose gradients, ethidium bromide/CsCl density centrifugation and by electrophoresis of parental Mu DNA and its fragments in agarose gels. We find that the parental Mu DNA cannot be detected as covalently closed circles at any stage during the Mu life cycle. An interesting form of Mu DNA can be seen after superinfection of immune cells. This form sediments about twice as fast as the mature phage DNA marker in neutral sucrose gradients but yields linear molecules upon phenol extraction. Upon infection of sensitive cells, most of the parental DNA associates with a large complex, presumably containing the host chromosome. When Mu-sensitive cells are infected with unlabeled Mu particles and Mu DNA examined at different times after infection by fractionation in 0.3% agarose gels and hybridization with 32P-labeled Mu DNA, Mu sequences are found to appear with the bulk host DNA as the phage lytic cycle progresses. However, no distinct replicative or integrative intermediate of Mu, that behaves differently from linear Mu DNA and is separate from the host DNA, can be detected.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > DNA replication
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > bacteriophage
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > bacteriophage
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > bacteriophage
organism description > bacteria > escherichia coli
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > restriction enzyme
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 1979
Date Deposited: 16 May 2016 19:37
Last Modified: 17 May 2016 14:20
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/32704

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