Genetics, Vol 125, 463-474, Copyright © 1990

INVESTIGATIONS

Break-Join Recombination in Phage {lambda}

F. W. Stahl, M. S. Fox, D. Faulds and M. M. Stahl
Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1229

In phage {lambda}, when DNA replication is blocked, recombination mediated by the Red pathway occurs only near the double-chain break site, cos, that defines the termini of the virion chromosome. The recombinants initiated by cos contain newly synthesized DNA near cos, in amount corresponding to a few percent of the length of {lambda}. A restriction enzyme cut delivered to one parent far from cos results in elevated recombination near the restriction site. Recombinants induced by this cut have s similarly small amount of DNA synthesis in these replication-blocked crosses. When restriction cuts are introduced in the presence of normal amounts of all of the DNA replication enzymes, many of the resulting recombinants still enjoy, at most, a small amount of DNA synthesis associated with the exchange event. Thus, these experiments fail to support the previously considered possibility that Red-mediated recombination in {lambda} proceeds largely through a break-copy pathway.

This article has been cited by other articles:

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