Processive action of terminase during sequential packaging of bacteriophage lambda chromosomes

Bacteriophage lambda chromosomes are packaged in a polarized, sequential fashion from a multimeric DNA substrate. Mature chromosomes are generated when terminase introduces staggered nicks in the cohesive end sites (cos sites) bounding a chromosome. Packaging is polarized, to the initial and terminal cos sites for packaging a chromosome can be defined. To initiate packaging, terminase binds to cos at cosB, and subsequently cuts at cosN. To terminate packaging of a chromosome, a functional cosB is not required at the terminal cos. To explain this finding, it was proposed earlier that terminase scans for the terminal cosN, rather than any subsequent cosB, during packaging. In the work described here we performed helper packaging experiments to see whether processive action of terminase occurs during sequential packaging of lambda chromosomes. The helper packaging experiments involve trilysogens; strains carrying three prophages in tandem. Infection by a hetero-immune helper phage results in packaging of the repressed prophage chromosomes, since the prophage structure is analogous to the normal DNA substrate. Two chromosomes can be packaged from between the three cos sites of the prophages of a trilysogen. Both chromosomes are packaged even when the central cos is cosB-. Our interpretation of these data is that terminase is brought to the central cos by packaging; following cleavage of the central cos, the terminase remains bound to the distal chromosome; and terminase acts to begin packaging of the distal chromosome. The frequency at which terminase reads across the central cos to initiate packaging of the distal chromosome is in the range from 0.3 to 0.5 in our experiments. Reading across cos was found not to be greatly dependent on the state of cosB, indicating that cosB binding is only needed for packaging the first chromosome in a packaging series. A multilysogen was constructed in which the initial cos was cos+ and the distal cos sites were all cosB-. The initial and downstream chromosomes were found to be packaged. This result indicates that terminase that is brought to the central cos by packaging is not only able to initiate packaging of a downstream chromosome, but can also scan and terminate packaging of the downstream chromosome. A model is presented in which processive action of terminase is the basis for sequential packaging of lambda chromosomes.