Koch, Gebhard, Hershey, Alfred Day (1959) Synthesis of phage-precursor protein in bacteria infected with T2. Journal of Molecular Biology, 1. pp. 260-276.
Abstract
Measurable synthesis of the principal phage-precursor proteins begins about 7 min after infection of bacteria with T2. By the 20th minute, such proteins have accumulated to the extent of about 28 phage-particle equivalents per bacterium. During the steady state of phage growth prevailing after this time, atoms of labeled sulfur or molecules of labeled arginine pass from the culture medium into phage-precursor protein in less than 1 min and then appear in phage particles about 5 min later. The 28 equivalents of precursor protein therefore make up an intrabacterial pool in which the rate of protein synthesis is matched by a similar rate of subsequent incorporation into phage particles. After artificial lysis of the infected bacteria, the precursor proteins can be separated into three categories: large particles precipitable by antiphage serum (presumably empty phage heads); smaller particles similarly precipitable; and materials that are not precipitable. These three form roughly equal parts in the pool and all must be chiefly precursors of the coats of the finished phages. Surprisingly, a pulse of radioactive isotope passes from the culture medium into phage particles almost simultaneously through all three components of the pool; none of them is mainly a precursor of the others. Thus several classes of protein structures found in lysates are precursors of phage particles or, more likely, are derived by breakdown during extraction of other structures that are precursors. In either case it is clear that the more-or-less finished head portion of a phage particle is formed from phage-precursor nucleic acid and amino acids in a time that is short relative to the time required for the remaining steps in the production of an infective phage particle. Serologically phage-specific proteins that are not phage precursors are also formed at slow and doubtfully significant rates. Other proteins that are not precursors are formed faster, but these probably are not related to the precursor materials.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | 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 |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | The Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics |
| Depositing User: | Matt Covey |
| Date: | 1959 |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Apr 2017 19:49 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Apr 2017 19:49 |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/34508 |
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