Control of directionality in bacteriophage mv4 site-specific recombination: functional analysis of the Xis factor.

ABSTRACT: The integrase of the temperate bacteriophage mv4 catalyzes site-specific recombination between the phage attP site and the host attB site during Lactobacillus delbrueckii lysogenization. The mv4 prophage is excised during the induction of lytic growth. Excisive site-specific recombination between the attR and attL sites is also catalyzed by the phage-encoded recombinase, but the directionality of the recombination is determined by a second phage-encoded protein, the recombination directionality factor (RDF). We have identified and functionally characterized the RDF involved in site-specific excision of the prophage genome. The mv4 RDF, (mv4)Xis, is encoded by the second gene of the early lytic operon. It is a basic protein of 56 amino acids. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Coddeville M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2812466 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature