Abstract
Previously we have developed an in vitro system that synthesizes infectious single-stranded (ss) DNA bacteriophage ΦX174 from purified phage components1. This system provides an assay to examine the function of each viral component in the phage synthesizing reaction. In this report, we show that the specificity of the template DNA for the phage synthesizing reaction is determined by the specific region of ΦX174 genome. Plasmid DNAs carrying the origin of ss DNA synthesis of ΦX174 are active as templates in the in vitro system and produce particles containing ss plasmid DNA packaged into ΦX174 capsids. The orientation of the ΦX174 DNA fragment carrying the origin determines which strand of the plasmid is packaged. The particles synthesized in vitro are infectious to ΦX174-sensitive Escherichia coli and introduce ss plasmid DNA into the host cells. The ss DNA is converted to ds plasmid which is maintained in the cell.
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Aoyama, A., Hayashi, M. In vitro packaging of plasmid DNAs into ΦX174 bacteriophage capsid. Nature 297, 704–706 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/297704a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/297704a0
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