HOST-DEPENDENT SYNTHESIS OF ALTERED DEOXYCYTIDYLATE HYDROXYMETHYLASE AFTER INFECTION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI WITH CERTAIN AMBER MUTANTS OF BACTERIOPHAGE T4

TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE MUTANTS OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS BACTERIOPHAGE SP3. II. IN VIVO COMPLEMENTATION STUDIES

Nishihara, Mutsuko (University of California, Los Angeles), and W. R. Romig. Temperature-sensitive mutants of Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage SP3. II. In vivo complementation studies. J. Bacteriol. 88:1230-1239. 1964.-A plate-spotting procedure was used in initial attempts to group the temperature-sensitive Bacillus subtilis phage SP3 mutants by complementation. The results obtained did not show any clear patterns of reactions among the mutants. Crosses were, therefore, repeated in broth at a temperature of 49 C, which greatly reduced the extent of replication of each mutant type alone. The data on mixed infections indicated that there was a minimum of six complementation groups. Of the 12 isolates, 7 did not seem to complement with each other; the rest complemented with each other and with the seven noncomplementing mutants. There was a positive correlation between the complementation reaction of a pair and the recovery of wild-phenotype phages from a 49 C broth lysate. The relative proportion of phages capable of forming wild-phenotype plaques on plates incubated at 46 C to the total number of plaque-forming units was higher in a lysate of a mixed infection with two mutants than in lysates of each mutant alone. Moreover, this frequency was higher for a mixed lysate made at 49 C than for a lysate of the same two mutants made at 37 C. These observations suggested that genetic recombination might occur at 49 C, and that the increased recovery of wild-phenotype phages in lysates made at this temperature might be due to a selective advantage for these phages. Recombination experiments at 37 C with some complementing pairs gave frequencies of 2.0 to 4.8%. The ratio of wild-phenotype revertants to total phages in the stock lysates used for these crosses at 37 C was less than 10(-6). The noncomplementing mutants were not conclusively shown to be nonidentical.

Shutoff of host macromolecular synthesis after T-even bacteriophage infection

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Suppression of amber mutations of bacteriophage T4 gene 43 (DNA polymerase) by translational ambiguity

The growth properties of twelve different amber (am) mutants of bacteriophage T4 gene 43 (DNA polymerase) were examined by using nonpermissive (su(-)) as well as permissive (su(+)) Escherichia coli hosts. It was found that most of these mutants were measurably suppressed in su(-) hosts by translational ambiguity (misreading of codons during protein synthesis). The ability of these mutants to grow in response to this form of weak suppression probably means that the T4 gene 43 DNA polymerase can be effective in supporting productive DNA replication when it is supplied in small amounts. By similar criteria, studies with other phage mutants suggested that the products of T4 genes 62 (uncharacterized), 44 (uncharacterized), 42 (dCMP-hydroxymethylase), and 56 (dCTPase) are also effective in small amounts. Some T4 gene products, such as the product of gene 41 (uncharacterized), seem to be partially dispensable for phage growth since am mutants of such genes do propagate, although weakly, in streptomycin-resistant su(-) hosts which appear to have lost the capacity to suppress am mutations by ambiguity.

Specific suppression of mutations in genes 46 and 47 by das, a new class of mutations in bacteriophage T4D

Mutants in T4 genes 46 and 47 exhibit early cessation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis ("DNA arrest") and decreased synthesis of late proteins and phage. In addition, mutants in genes 46 and 47 fail to degrade host DNA to acidsoluble products. It is shown here that this complex phenotype can be partially suppressed by mutation of a T4 gene external to genes 46 and 47 which has been named das for "DNA arrest suppressor." The das mutations were discovered as third-site mutations in spontaneous pseudorevertants of [46, 47] mutants; the pseudorevertants make small plaques on Escherichia coli B, whereas [46, 47] mutants make none. The [das, 46, 47] triple mutant exhibits increased DNA, late protein, and viable phage production compared to the double mutant [46, 47]. The [das, 46, 47] mutant also degrades more of the host DNA to acid-soluble products than does the [46, 47] mutant. The suppressor effect of the das mutation appears to be gene-specific: it suppresses both amber and temperature-sensitive mutations in genes 46 and 47 and does not suppress amber mutations in any of the other genes tested. The [das] single mutants make normal-sized plaques on E. coli B and exhibit nearly normal host DNA degradation, DNA synthesis, late protein synthesis, and viable phage production. The das mutations either define a new gene between genes 33 and 34 or are special mutations within gene 33.

Mutants in a nonessential gene of bacteriophage T4 which are defective in the degradation of Escherichia coli deoxyribonucleic acid

Wild-type bacteriophage T4 was enriched for mutants which fail to degrade Escherichia coli deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by the following method. E. coli B was labeled in DNA at high specific activity with tritiated thymidine ((3)H-dT) and infected at low multiplicity with unmutagenized T4D. At 25 min after infection, the culture was lysed and stored. Wild-type T4 degrades the host DNA and incorporates the (3)H-dT into the DNA of progeny phage; mutants which fail to degrade the host DNA make unlabeled progeny phage. Wild-type progeny are eventually inactivated by tritium decay; mutants survive. Such mutants were found at a frequency of about 1% in the survivors. Eight mutants are in a single complementation group called denA located near gene 63. Four of these mutants which were examined in detail leave the bulk of the host DNA in large fragments. All eight mutants exhibit much less than normal T4 endonuclease II activity. The mutants produce somewhat fewer phage and less DNA than does wild-type T4.

Biological effects of substituting cytosine for 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in the deoxyribonucleic acid of bacteriophage T4

Previous work from this laboratory has shown that the cytosine-containing T4 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) made by deoxycytidine triphosphatase (dCTPase) amber mutants is extensively degraded, and that nucleases controlled by genes 46 and 47 participate in this process. In this paper, we examine other consequences of a defective dCTPase. Included are studies of DNA synthesis and phage production, and of the control of both early and late protein synthesis after infection of Escherichia coli B with various T4 mutants defective in genes 56 (dCTPase), 42 (dCMP hydroxymethylase), 1 (deoxynucleotide kinase), 43 (DNA polymerase), 30 (polynucleotide ligase), 46 and 47 (DNA breakdown) or e(lysozyme). By varying the temperature of infection with a temperature-sensitive dCTPase mutant, we have been able to control intracellular dCTPase activity, and thus vary the cytosine content of the phage DNA. We have produced and characterized viable T4 phage in which cytosine replaces 20% of the 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (HMC) in the DNA. We present evidence which suggests that intact, cytosine-containing T4 DNA is much less efficient than is normal T4 DNA in directing the synthesis of tail-fiber antigen. Lysozyme production is much less affected by progressively decreasing dCTPase activity; however, complete substitution of cytosine is correlated with a depression of lysozyme synthesis greater than expected from the defective synthesis of DNA. Low but significant lysozyme synthesis is observed late after infection of E. coli B with T4 amber mutants defective in a number of genes controlling DNA synthesis. The "20% cytosine" T4 phage, once produced, can initiate an apparently normal infection at permissive temperatures; the synthesis of early enzymes, DNA, and phage does not appear to be impaired. Two roles for HMC in T4 DNA have been indicated previously: (i) involvement in host-controlled restriction of the phage, in which glucosylation of the hydroxymethyl group plays a crucial role (16, 29, 53, 58), and (ii) protection of vegetative DNA against phage-controlled nucleases, a protection not dependent on glucosylation (41, 66, 67). A third role is suggested by our present results: transcription of at least some late genes can occur only from HMC-containing DNA and not from cytosine-containing DNA.

Variations in genetic recombination due to amber mutations in T4D bacteriophage

Recombination experiments were performed to assess the affect of amber mutations in 12 genes of T4D bacteriophage on genetic recombination. Crosses were performed in various suppressor-containing bacterial hosts to permit the production of progeny phage. Amber mutations in genes 32, 46, and 47 caused decreased recombination, amber mutations in genes 30, 41, 42, 43, 56, 61, and 62 caused increased recombination, whereas mutations in genes 63 and 37 showed no demonstrable effect on recombination.