REGION-SPECIFIC RECOMBINATION IN PHAGE T4. II. STRUCTURE OF THE RECOMBINANTS

In this paper, we present results of crosses designed to elucidate the structure of recombinants in the tail-fiber region of bacteriophage T4, in which a glucosylation-dependent recombination mechanism is operative, and the cause of this "special" recombination in glucosylated crosses is discussed. We present evidence that, when phage are nonglucosylated, recombination in the tail-fiber region proceeds via long heteroduplex overlaps. Mismatched bases within such regions (in nonglucosylated phage) are repaired efficiently (as contrasted to those of glucosylated phage), bnt asymmetrically; that is, there may not be an equal probability of resolving the mismatch to mutant or wild type.