Phage Φ29: Membrane-associated DNA Replication and Mechanism of Alternative Infection Strategy

TL;DRAbstract

Continuous research, spanning a period of more than three decades, has made the Bacillus bacteriophage Φ29 a paradigm for the study of several molecular mechanisms of general biological processes, including DNA replication and regulation of transcription. The genome of Φ29 consists of a linear double-stranded (ds) DNA, which has a terminal protein covalently linked to its 5' ends. Initiation of DNA replication, carried out by a protein-primed mechanism, has been studied in detail in vitro and is considered to be a model system that is also used by other linear genomes with a terminal protein linked to their DNA ends. Phage Φ29 has also been proven to be a versatile system to study in vitro transcription regulation in general and the switch from early to late phage transcription in particular. The detailed knowledge of in vitro phage Φ29 DNA replication and transcription regulation makes it an attractive model to study these processes in vivo. For many years it has been known that (i) p

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