[Formation and genetic structure of polylysogens for lambda and phi 80 and their lambda att80 hybrid infecting wild-type Escherichia coli]

Abstract

The frequency of polylysogeny and the genetic structure of polylysogens were studied for phages lambda, phi 80 and lambda att80. For none of these phages does frequency of polylysogeny vary by more than a factor of 2 within a wide range of multiplicities of infection (from 10(-3) up to 10) but the relative location of the prophages on the host chromosome is different. In the case of lambda, polylysogens are formed with a high frequency (0.20-0.41) and the prophages are inserted in tandem into the primary (normal) att site. In the case of phi 80 and lambda att80, polylysogens occur about 10 times less frequently and usually have one prophage inserted into the primary attachment site and another (sometimes, also a third) in one of the secondary ones. Wild-type Escherichia coli was shown to possess at least four secondary att80 sites, two of which (close to the his and tolC loci) are preferred. The frequency of secondary integration of phi 80 and lambda att80 does not differ significantly in the wild-type host and in cells deleted for the primary att site (0.041 and 0.045, respectively, among surviving cells at MOI 10). Certain properties of the phi 80 lysogens make it more difficult to decode their genetic structure.