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. 1978 Jul;135(1):207–214. doi: 10.1128/jb.135.1.207-214.1978

Viral R plasmid Rphi6P: properties of the penicillinase plasmid prophage and the supercoiled, circular encapsidated genome.

W T Tucker, J M Pemberton
PMCID: PMC224809  PMID: 307547

Abstract

Properties of the viral R plasmid Rphi6P are described. As a temperate bacteriophage, it plaques on the facultative phototroph Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. Under aerobic conditions the phage had a latent period of 180 min, a burst time of 200 min, and a burst size of 15 to 20 particles per infective center. The encapsidated viral genome occurred as a supercoiled, circular DNA duplex with a mean contour length of 16.5 +/- 10 micron. Percent guanine plus cytosine, as calculated from thermal denaturation profiles, was 63.5. Mitomycin C-induced loss of the prophage suggested an extrachromosomal location in the host cell. Use of this curing agent enabled the isolation of a plasmid-free strain of R. sphaeroides. Biophysical analysis of the plasmid-free strain lysogenized with Rphi6P confirmed that the prophage occurred as a plasmid in the host cell.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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