DNA repair-recombination functions in the DNA processing pathway of bacteriophage T4

It was previously shown that gene 49 codes for an endonuclease which functions in a terminal step in T4 maturation and that gene 49 mutations were suppressed by mutations in uv-sensitive genes, uvsX and uvsY. Here we have observed that a gene 49 mutation was also suppressed by mutations in genes 46, 47, and 59. Our results suggest that the genes uvsX, uvsY, 46, 47, and 59 function in a common DNA repair pathway. We suggest that the DNA repair functions constitute part of the DNA processing pathway and that suppression of the gene 49 mutation occurs because the DNA intermediates formed by mutational blocks in genes 46, 47 59, uvsX, and uvsY bypass the gene 49 function and reenter the DNA processing pathway just prior to the genes 16–17 function(s).