title: Characterization of the cos sites of bacteriophages P2 and P4.
abstract: A 641-bp cos-containing P2 DNA fragment was sequenced and compared to the P4 cos region. Alignment of the P2 and P4 cos regions shows a homologous region of 55 bp that has only three mismatches and contains a completely conserved region of dyad symmetry. A number of P4- and P2-derived cosmids were tested in an in vivo transduction assay in order to determine the minimal cos region required for packaging. These experiments show that the common region of 55 bp is sufficient for transduction with low frequency, but that a 125-bp cos-containing fragment contains all the information for transduction with optimal frequency.
authors: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Ziermann
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Calendar
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003360:Cosmids; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral