TABLE 1.
Bacterial strains, plasmids, and bacteriophages used in this study
| Strain, plasmid, or phage | Relevant properties and use | Source or reference |
|---|---|---|
| E. coli strains | ||
| BE | Su−, nonpermissive for T4 amber; selective plating and growth of am+ phage | Our collection |
| B40(Su1) | Su+; growth of T4 amber mutant | Our collection |
| BL21(DE3) | Carries T7 RNA polymerase in λDE3 integrated into the chromosome of BL21 | Novagen (14) |
| XL1-Blue | Transform and keep plasmids in this work | Our collection (2) |
| JM109 | Cell wall for turbidity assay | Our collection (21) |
| Plasmids | ||
| pET29a | Expresses genes under T7 promoter, Kmr | Novagen |
| pSZ146 | Contains gene 5 in pET29a | This work |
| pSZ202-2 | Contains gene 5 in pET29a, expresses gene 5 with histidine tag | This work |
| T4 phages | ||
| T4D | Wild type | Our collection |
| 5amB256 | Gene 5 amber mutant | W. B. Wood |
| 23amH11 | Gene 23 amber mutant | Our collection |