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. 1972 Sep;10(3):545–554. doi: 10.1128/jvi.10.3.545-554.1972

Bacteriophage T4 Head Morphogenesis IV. Comparison of Gene 16-, 17-, and 49-Defective Head Structures21

Ronald B Luftig a, Carol Ganz a
PMCID: PMC356496  PMID: 4561207

Abstract

Defective heads present in extracts of bacteriophage T4 gene 16, 17, or 49 mutant-infected cells have been characterized. All appeared as empty shells when examined by negative-stain electron microscopy and showed essentially the same polypeptide pattern on sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gels. However, when analyzed by several other methods, gene 16- and 17-defective heads were shown to differ markedly from phage heads present in gene 49-defective extracts. First, the gene 16- and 17-defective structures were found to possess a large number of attached tails (50%, rather than about 5%). Second, they contained less nuclease-resistant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (3 versus 18% of a phage equivalent), had a smaller sedimentation coefficient (240 versus 315S), and a lighter density (1.31 vs. 1.34 g/ml) than gene 49-defective heads. Third, they were not attached to the intracellular DNA pool through a deoxyribonuclease-sensitive linkage. Finally, 8-nm diameter capsomers were clearly revealed on the surface of many gene 16- and 17-defective structures. There was a total of 305 ± 25 capsomers per particle, which yielded an approximate molecular weight of 84 × 106 for these heads. The capsomers were presumably not seen on gene 49-defective heads because of the large amount (18%) of associated DNA.

These results support the contention that gene 16- and 17-defective heads, in contrast to gene 49-defective structures, represent abortive rather than intermediate structures in T4 head morphogenesis.

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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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