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. 1974 Jun;118(3):790–795. doi: 10.1128/jb.118.3.790-795.1974

R-Factor-Mediated Nuclease Activity Involved in Thymineless Elimination

D J Tweats 1, R J Pinney 1, J T Smith 1
PMCID: PMC246823  PMID: 4598004

Abstract

R-factor 1818 (R-1818) had no effect on the efficiency of plating of ligase-deficient phage T4 mutants on strains of Escherichia coli containing excess, normal, or defective ligase. However, if the R+ bacterial strain that overproduced ligase was first starved of thymine, its ability to propagate ligase-deficient phage was reduced by as much as fivefold compared with the burst size on the thymine-starved R− strain. In contrast, it was found that after ultraviolet irradiation of the host the phage burst size was higher on the R+ ligase overproducing strain than the R− derivative. The maximal level of R-factor elimination produced by thymine starvation was inversely related to the ligase level of the host. Ultraviolet irradiation did not cure the R factor from strains containing wild-type levels of ligase, but did cause elimination from strains with excess or defective ligase. The results suggest that R-1818 codes for a nuclease that is induced by thymine starvation and which, possibly in conjunction with host-mediated nucleases, is responsible for its elimination under these conditions.

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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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