Absence of a protein constituent and occurrence of an oversized DNA genome in a high density mutant particle of phage P22

Summary Mutants of P22 phage with abnormal density in CsCl solution (P22ndc phage) were analyzed in detail for this report. Two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that wild-type P22ndc ⁺ phage virions contained a new protein (gpU) in addition to nine already identified proteins, while P22ndc lacked gpU. The molecular weight of gpU was essentially the same as that of gp5 (45 500), and one mature virion of phage P22ndc ¹ contained as many as 30–50 molecules of gpU. As P22ndc is a plaque-forming phage, gpU cannot be essential for the growth and assembly of P22 phage. Both genetical and biochemical analysis of the phage DNA in the virion revealed that P22ndc phage contained 2%–4% longer DNA than wild type P22ndc ⁺. A model is presented to account for the formation of P22ndc phage.