title: Length determination in bacteriophage lambda tails.
abstract: We have isolated viable mutants of bacteriophage lambda that have in-frame deletions in gene H, which codes for a minor tail protein. They produce correspondingly smaller but active gene H protein products and assemble shorter-tailed phage particles. The deficiency in tail length for each mutant corresponds to the calculated shortening of the gene H protein caused by the deletion. These results show that the H protein determines tail length and argue strongly for a scheme in which the H protein is a ruler or template that measures length during tail assembly.
mesh_terms: D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001483:Base Sequence; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005796:Genes; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009154:Mutation; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017376:Viral Tail Proteins
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins; D017376:Viral Tail Proteins; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes