Site-specific Recombination of Bacteriophage λ: The Role of Host Gene Products

  1. H. I. Miller*,,
  2. A. Kikuchi,
  3. H. A. Nash§,
  4. R. A. Weisberg, and
  5. D. I. Friedman*
  1. *Department of Microbiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and §National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

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Excerpt

Integration of the DNA of bacteriophage λ into the chromosome of Escherichia coli occurs by recombination at two unique genetic loci: attP on the phage genome and attB on the bacterial chromosome. This reaction is therefore an example of site-specific recombination. The only phage-encoded protein required for recombination at these att (attachment) sites is Int, the product of the phage int gene. Integration of λ generates a prophage that is flanked by two new att sites, attL and attR. Excision, recombination between attL and attR, requires Xis, the product of the phage xis gene, as well as Int (for review, see Weisberg et al. 1977).

It has previously been demonstrated that in addition to phage-encoded proteins, the products of one or more host genes are necessary for λ site-specific recombination (Miller and Friedman 1977a; Nash et al. 1977; Williams et al. 1977). In this paper, we briefly present the results...

  • Present address: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20014.

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