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. 1984 Dec;52(3):966–972. doi: 10.1128/jvi.52.3.966-972.1984

An accessory role for Escherichia coli integration host factor: characterization of a lambda mutant dependent upon integration host factor for DNA packaging.

S E Bear, D L Court, D I Friedman
PMCID: PMC254621  PMID: 6238175

Abstract

Bacteriophage lambda grows lytically on Escherichia coli defective for integration host factor, a protein involved in lambda site-specific recombination and the regulation of gene expression. We report the characterization of a mutant, lambda cos154, that, unlike wild-type lambda, is defective for growth in integration host factor-defective E. coli. The cis-dominant mutation in lambda cos154 is a single base pair change in a region of hyphenated dyad symmetry close to the lambda left cohesive end; this mutation prevents DNA packaging. We propose the following two alternative roles for this site in lambda DNA packaging: (i) to bind an E. coli accessory protein required in the absence of integration host factor or (ii) to bind the phage-encoded terminase protein that is essential for DNA packaging.

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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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