Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1976 Sep;73(9):3098–3102. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.9.3098

A gene of bacteriophage T4 whose product prevents true late transcription on cytosine-containing T4 DNA.

L Snyder, L Gold, E Kutter
PMCID: PMC430943  PMID: 1067605

Abstract

T-even coliphages have 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in their DNA instead of cytosine. In some T4 mutants, the replicated DNA contains cytosine, but then no late gene products are made. We show that the inability to make late gene products with cytosine-containing T4 DNA is due to a T4 gene products. This gene product, while probably nonessential under normal conditions, interacts with an essential part of the transcription apparatus. Mutations in this gene allow viable T4 particles to be made whose DNA has been substituted almost 100% with cytosine.

Full text

PDF
3098

Images in this article

3100Image
on p.3100
3101Image
on p.3101
3101Image
on p.3101

Selected References

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

  1. Bolle A., Epstein R. H., Salser W., Geiduschek E. P. Transcription during bacteriophage T4 development: requirements for late messenger synthesis. J Mol Biol. 1968 Apr 28;33(2):339–362. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90193-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bolle A., Epstein R. H., Salser W., Geiduschek E. P. Transcription during bacteriophage T4 development: synthesis and relative stability of early and late RNA. J Mol Biol. 1968 Feb 14;31(3):325–348. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90413-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bruner R., Solomon D., Berger T. Presumptive D2a point mutants of bacteriophage T4. J Virol. 1973 Oct;12(4):946–947. doi: 10.1128/jvi.12.4.946-947.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bruner R., Souther A., Suggs S. Stability of cytosine-containing deoxyribonucleic acid after infection by certain T4 rII-D deletion mutants. J Virol. 1972 Jul;10(1):88–92. doi: 10.1128/jvi.10.1.88-92.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hercules K., Munro J. L., Mendelsohn S., Wiberg J. S. Mutants in a nonessential gene of bacteriophage T4 which are defective in the degradation of Escherichia coli deoxyribonucleic acid. J Virol. 1971 Jan;7(1):95–105. doi: 10.1128/jvi.7.1.95-105.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Horvitz H. R. Control by bacteriophage T4 of two sequential phosphorylations of the alpha subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. J Mol Biol. 1974 Dec 25;90(4):727–738. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(74)90536-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hosoda J., Levinthal C. Protein synthesis by Escherichia coli infected with bacteriophage T4D. Virology. 1968 Apr;34(4):709–727. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(68)90092-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kornberg A., Zimmerman S. B., Kornberg S. R., Josse J. ENZYMATIC SYNTHESIS OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID. INFLUENCE OF BACTERIOPHAGE T2 ON THE SYNTHETIC PATHWAY IN HOST CELLS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1959 Jun;45(6):772–785. doi: 10.1073/pnas.45.6.772. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kutter E. M., Wiberg J. S. Biological effects of substituting cytosine for 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in the deoxyribonucleic acid of bacteriophage T4. J Virol. 1969 Oct;4(4):439–453. doi: 10.1128/jvi.4.4.439-453.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kutter E. M., Wiberg J. S. Degradation of cytosin-containing bacterial and bacteriophage DNA after infection of Escherichia coli B with bacteriophage T4D wild type and with mutants defective in genes 46, 47 and 56. J Mol Biol. 1968 Dec;38(3):395–411. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90394-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kutter E., Beug A., Sluss R., Jensen L., Bradley D. The production of undegraded cytosine-containing DNA by bacteriophage T4 in the absence of dCTPase and endonucleases II and IV, and its effects on T4-directed protein synthesis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Dec 25;99(4):591–607. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80174-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. LURIA S. E., HUMAN M. L. A nonhereditary, host-induced variation of bacterial viruses. J Bacteriol. 1952 Oct;64(4):557–569. doi: 10.1128/jb.64.4.557-569.1952. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. O'Farrell P. Z., Gold L. M., Huang W. M. The identification of prereplicative bacteriophage T4 proteins. J Biol Chem. 1973 Aug 10;248(15):5499–5501. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. RANDERATH K. TWO-DIMENSIONAL SEPARATION OF NUCLEIC ACID BASES ON CELLULOSE LAYERS. Nature. 1965 Feb 27;205:908–908. doi: 10.1038/205908a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Revel H. R. Restriction of nonglucosylated T-even bacteriophage: properties of permissive mutants of Escherichia coli B and K12. Virology. 1967 Apr;31(4):688–701. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(67)90197-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Sadowski P. D., Warner H. R., Hercules K., Munro J. L., Mendelsohn S., Wiberg J. S. Mutants of bacteriophage T4 defective in the induction of T4 endonuclease II. J Biol Chem. 1971 May 25;246(10):3431–3433. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Stevens A. New small polypeptides associated with DNA-dependent RNA polymerase of Escherichia coli after infection with bacteriophage T4. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Mar;69(3):603–607. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.3.603. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. WIBERG J. S., BUCHANAN J. M. STUDIES ON LABILE DEOXYCYTIDYLATE HYDROXYMETHYLASES FROM ESCHERICHIA COLI B INFECTED WITH TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE MUTANTS OF BACTERIOPHAGE T4. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1964 Mar;51:421–428. doi: 10.1073/pnas.51.3.421. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Warner H. R., Snustad P., Jorgensen S. E., Koerner J. F. Isolation of bacteriophage T4 mutants defective in the ability to degrade host deoxyribonucleic acid. J Virol. 1970 Jun;5(6):700–708. doi: 10.1128/jvi.5.6.700-708.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Wiberg J. S. Amber mutants of bacteriophage T4 defective in deoxycytidine diphosphatase and deoxycytidine triphosphatase. On the role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in bacteriophage deoxyribonucleic acid. J Biol Chem. 1967 Dec 25;242(24):5824–5829. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wiberg J. S. Mutants of bacteriophage T4 unable to cause breakdown of host DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1966 Mar;55(3):614–621. doi: 10.1073/pnas.55.3.614. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wood W. B. Host specificity of DNA produced by Escherichia coli: bacterial mutations affecting the restriction and modification of DNA. J Mol Biol. 1966 Mar;16(1):118–133. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(66)80267-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wu R., Geiduschek E. P. The role of replication proteins in the regulation of bacteriophage T4 transcription. I. Gene 45 and hydroxymethyl-C-containing DNA. J Mol Biol. 1975 Aug 25;96(4):513–538. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(75)90137-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wu R., Geiduschek E. P. The role of replication proteins in the regulation of bacteriophage T4 transcription. II. Gene 45 and late transcription uncoupled from replication. J Mol Biol. 1975 Aug 25;96(4):539–562. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(75)90138-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES