Determinants of site-specific recombination in the lambdoid coliphage HK 022. An evolutionary change in specificity

• Published in: Journal of molecular biology Vol. 207; no. 4; pp. 695 - 718
• Main Authors: Yagil, E, Dolev, S, Oberto, J, Kislev, N, Ramaiah, N, Weisberg, R A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.1989
• Subjects: phage HK022
• ISSN: 0022-2836

The temperate bacteriophage HK022, like its relative lambda , inserts its chromosome into a specific site in the bacterial chromosome during lysogenization and excises it after induction. However, the authors find that the recombinational specificities of the two phages differ: they use different bacterial sites, and neither promotes efficient insertion or excision of the other phage chromosome. In order to determine the basis for this difference in specificity, the authors sequenced the HK022elements, that are involved in insertion and excision, and compared them to the corresponding lambda elements. The location, orientation, size and overall arrangement of the int and xis genes and the phage attachment sites are nearly identical in the two genomes, as is common for other functionally related elements in lambdoid phages.