The effects of virus and host genes on recombination among ultraviolet-irradiated bacteriophage T4.

The influence of the polA, uvrA, and recA genes of Escherichia coli on recombination among ultraviolet-irradiated T4 bacteriophages was determined with respect to recombination between rII markers and phage yield. The polA and uvrA gene products have no effect on these two aspects of phage DNA metabolism. A recA mutation does not significantly alter rII recombination frequencies in irradiated phage crosses, nor does it greatly change the yield of infectious particles in wild-type phage crosses or crosses in which the phage strains possess the v mutation. However, the same cross experiment performed with a pair of T4x mutants in a recA host demonstrates an 84% reduction in the phage yield in an unirradiated control cross. Furthermore, with increasing doses of uv irradiation, phage productivity of the T4x mutant declines at an accelerated rate compared to T4x⁺ strains crossed in recA cells. Multiplicity reactivation experiments in which wild-type or recombination-deficient (x or y) T4 phages infect wild-type or recombination-deficient (recA) host cells show that irradiated phages can only be reactivated in recA⁺ hosts, regardless of the bacteriophage genotype. These results indicate the involvement of the E. coli recA gene product in normal T4 replication and multiplicity reactivation.