Casjens, S., K. Eppler, L. Sampson, R. Parr, and E. Wyckoff. 1991. Fine structure genetic and physical map of the gene 3 to 10 region of the bacteriophage P22 chromosome. Genetics 127:637-647.
The mechanism by which dsDNA is packaged by viruses is not yet understood in
any system. Bacteriophage P22 has been a productive system in which to study the
molecular genetics of virus particle assembly and DNA packaging. Only five phage
encoded proteins, the products of genes 3, 2, 1, 8 and 5, are required for
packaging the virus chromosome inside the coat protein shell. We report here the
construction of a detailed genetic and physical map of these genes, the
neighboring gene 4 and a portion of gene 10, in which 289 conditional lethal
amber, opal, temperature sensitive and cold sensitive mutations are mapped into
44 small (several hundred base pair) intervals of known sequence. Knowledge of
missense mutant phenotypes and information on the location of these mutations
allows us to begin the assignment of partial protein functions to portions of
these genes. The map and mapping strains will be of use in the further genetic
dissection of the P22 DNA packaging and prohead assembly processes.
