title: Filamentous phages as cloning vectors.
abstract: The virtue of Ff vectors goes beyond the fact that they deliver a single strand in a convenient package for sequencing and oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Of all vectors in common use they are the easiest to propagate and process. Their genomes can be easily manipulated, and the knowledge acquired over a quarter century of basic research makes their behavior reasonably predictable. For this reason I have emphasized the general properties of Ff phage in this review and dealt at some length with applications that are still not fully developed, I hope this review will inspire readers to continue the tradition of imaginative exploitation of this unique class of viruses.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D009154:Mutation; D014771:Virion
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral