Diffusion and segmental dynamics of the double-stranded lambda-phage DNA polymer are quantitatively studied over the transition range from stiff to semiflexible chains. Spectroscopy of fluorescence fluctuations of single-end fluorescently labeled monodisperse DNA fragments unambiguously shows that double-stranded DNA in the length range of 10(2) - 2 x 10(4) base pairs behaves as a semiflexible ...

The anatomy of DNA molecules isolated from mature bacteriophage is reviewed. These molecules are linear, duplex DNA consisting mainly of uninterrupted polynucleotide chains. Certain phage (T5 and PB) contain four specifically located interruptions. While the nucleotide sequence of most of these molecules is unique (T5, T3, T7, lambda), some are circular permutations of each other (T2, T4, P22)....

The phage lambda-derived Red recombination system is a powerful tool for making targeted genetic changes in Escherichia coli, providing a simple and versatile method for generating insertion, deletion, and point mutations on chromosomal, plasmid, or BAC targets. However, despite the common use of this system, the detailed mechanism by which lambda Red mediates double-stranded DNA recombination ...

In Escherichia coli K-12, the receptor for phage lambda is an outer membrane protein which inactivates the phage in vitro. Lambda receptor activity was found in extracts from all wild strains of E. coli tested, although most of them fail to support growth of the phage. In some cases this failure is due to a masking of the receptor in vivo, the bacteria being unable to adsorb the phage or to rea...

Peptide inhibitors of phage lambda site-specific recombination were previously isolated by screening synthetic combinatorial peptide libraries. These inhibitors cause the accumulation of complexes between the recombinase and the Holliday junction intermediate of several highly divergent tyrosine recombinases. Peptide WRWYCR and its d-amino acid derivative bind to the center of protein-free junc...

To study the mechanism of DNA gyrase-mediated illegitimate recombination in Escherichia coli, we examined the formation of lambda Spi- phage during prophage induction. The frequency of Spi- phage was two to three orders of magnitude higher in the presence of oxolinic acid, an inhibitor of DNA gyrase A subunit, than in the absence of the drug, while it was very low in nalAr bacteria with the dru...

The dinB gene of Escherichia coli is known to be involved in the untargeted mutagenesis of lambda phage. Recently, we have demonstrated that this damage-inducible and SOS-controlled gene encodes a novel DNA polymerase, DNA Pol IV, which is able to dramatically increase the untargeted mutagenesis of F' plasmid. At the amino acid level, DNA Pol IV shares sequence homologies with E. coli UmuC (DNA...

Lambda phages have considerable potential as gene delivery vehicles due to their genetic tractability, low cost, safety and physical characteristics in comparison to other nanocarriers and gene porters. Little is known concerning lambda phage-mediated gene transfer and expression in mammalian hosts. We therefore performed experiments to evaluate lambda-ZAP bacteriophage-mediated gene transfer a...

Bacteriophage lambda (lambda) permits the display of many foreign peptides and proteins on the gpD major coat protein. However, some recombinant derivatives of gpD are incompatible with the assembly of stable phage particles. This presents a limitation to current lambda display systems. Here we describe a novel, plasmid-based expression system in which gpD deficient lambda lysogens can be co-co...