Search

The common laboratory strain of bacteriophage [unkeyable]--[unkeyable] wild type or [unkeyable]PaPa--carries a frameshift mutation relative to Ur-[unkeyable], the original isolate. The Ur-[unkeyable] virions have thin, jointed tail fibers that are absent from [unkeyable] wild type. Two novel proteins of Ur-[unkeyable] constitute the fibers: the product of stf, the gene that is disrupted in [unkeyable] wild type by the frameshift mutation, and the product of gene tfa, a protein that is implicated in facilitating tail fiberassembly. Relative to [unkeyable] wild type, Ur-[unkeyable] has expanded receptor specificity and adsorbs to Escherichia coli cells more rapidly., The tail fibers of the double-stranded DNA bacteriophages are the organelles through which the virus contacts its host in the first steps of the infection process. By forming specific contacts [...]

Presents a study of the common laboratory strain of bacteriophage lambda--lambda wild type or lambdaPaPa--that carries a frameshift mutation relative to Ur-lambda, the original isolate. Ur-lambda's expanded receptor specificity relative to lambda wild type; More.