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Capsid Size and Deoxyribonucleic Acid Length: the Petite Variant of Bacteriophage T4

Institut de Biologie Moléculaire de l'Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Bacteriology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024

ABSTRACT

A mutant which produces a small-headed ("petite") variant of bacteriophage T4 is described. The mutation (E920g) maps in a new gene (66) between genes 23 and 24. Petite phage particles composed up to 70% of the phage yield. The petite phage was nonviable upon single infection but produced progeny when two or more infected a cell. Its genome was shortened by a random deletion of about 30%, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from the particles was 0.68 the length of normal T4 DNA. The reduction in DNA length was accompanied by a proportional reduction in head volume. Double mutants between E920g and head-defective mutants in gene 21 produced unusually high frequencies of spherical capsidlike structures (-particles).

¹ Permanent address: Department of Biophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 60637.

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