Open AccessCharacterisation of the bacteriophage T4 comCα55.6 and comCJ mutants. A possible role in an antitermination process
Author(s) -
Chiurazzi Maurizio,
Pulitzer John F.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb13889.x
Subject(s) - mutant , transcription (linguistics) , biology , bacteriophage , gene , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , wild type , genetics , linguistics , philosophy
Abstract We have performed a new screen for T4 mutants ( comC ) that overcome the phage growth restriction caused by the Escherichia coli rholtabC mutants. We show that one such mutant ( comCJ ) identifies a different gene from that identified by canonical comC mutants. We compare the regulation of T4 prereplicative transcription in a rholtabC mutant infected by T4 wild‐type, by a canonical comC mutant ( comCα55.6 ) and by comCJ . The transcription rates of the two prereplicative genes 39 and 43 is depressed in a T4 wild‐type infected tabC host mutant. When comCα55.6 and/or comCJ single and double mutants are the infecting phages, transcription of genes 39 and 43 is resumed to different extents; in particular, in the double mutant infections there appears to be a synergistic effect on transcription. Furthermore, we find that the comCα55.6 phage mutant affects the transcription rate of the gene rIIA in a wild‐type host.