Bacteriophage MS2 Lysis Protein Does Not Require Coat Protein to Mediate Cell Lysis

We inserted all but the extreme 5' end of a DNA copy of the bacteriophage MS2 lysis gene downstream of a lac-induced promoter on a multicopy plasmid. Upon induction, cells harboring this plasmid began to lyse, showing that phage coat protein is not required for the lytic process itself.