Lambda phage

About: Lambda phage is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1609 publications have been published within this topic receiving 84675 citations. The topic is also known as: Enterobacteria phage lambda.

The early promoters of bacteriophage HK022: contrasts and similarities to other lambdoid phages.

Abstract: The pL, pR and pM promoters of lambdoid phages direct the transcription of early phage genes and the prophage repressor gene. We have determined the start points of transcription for these three promoters in the lambdoid phage HK022 and have shown that the HK022 repressor represses the early promoters, pL and pR, and activates the repressor promoter, pM. HK022 resembles other phages of the lambda family in these respects, as it does in the functional organization of most of its early genes and sites. One exception is nun, the first gene of the HK022 pL operon, which is expressed in the presence of prophage repressor and thus differs from its lambda counterpart, gene N. We show that transcription of nun in a lysogen does not initiate at pL but instead starts upstream at the pM promoter. This difference in transcription fits the different roles of Nun and N proteins in the physiology of the two phages: Nun protects HK022 lysogens against superinfection with certain other lambdoid phages, while N promotes the transcription of early lambda genes.

Methods for identification of recombinants of phage lambda.

Abstract: Two methods are described which allow the screening of a large number of phage plaques for a specific DNA sequence carried by the phage or a specific antigen produced within the phage plaque. These methods were set up with lambda and lambdalac phages. Phage plaques were transferred onto nitrocellulose filters by desiccation in 0.1 M NaOH, and the lac sequence was detected by hybridization to radioactive lac mRNA. Beta-Galactosidase was detected by reaction with anti-beta-galactosidase immune serum included in the soft agar of the titration plates; the precipitate thus formed was revealed by means of enzyme-coupled antibodies and in situ coloration. These methods are potentially useful for the identification of lambda transducers, including those which are generated by in vitro recombination with eukaryotic DNA.

The effects of nucleotide sequence changes on DNA secondary structure formation in Escherichia coli are consistent with cruciform extrusion in vivo

Abstract: The construction in bacteriophage lambda of a set of long DNA palindromes with paired changes in the central sequence is described. Identical palindrome centers were previously used by others to test the S-type model for cruciform extrusion in vitro. Long DNA palindromes prevent the propagation of carrier phage lambda on a wild-type host, and the sbcC mutation is sufficient to almost fully alleviate this inviability. The plaque areas produced by the palindrome containing phages were compared on an Escherichia coli sbcC lawn. Central sequence changes had a greater effect upon the plaque area than peripheral changes, implying that the residual palindrome-mediated inviability in E. coli sbcC is center-dependent and could be due to the formation of a cruciform structure. The results argue strongly that intrastrand pairing within palindromes is critical in determining their effects in vivo. In addition, the same data suggests that DNA loops in vivo may sometimes contain two bases only.