Physical mapping of hybrid bacteriophage T7/T3 RNA polymerase genes (original) (raw)

The late regions of the T7 and T3 bacteriophage genomes are transcribed by phage-specified RNA polymerases, the products of gene 1. Although these phage transcriptional systems share many characteristics and are obviously related, they have diverged to such an extent that neither of their respective RNA polymerases utilizes the promotor sites of the other phage at an appreciable rate. However, it is possible to construct viable T7/T3 hybrids which have hybrid gene 1 sequences; the resultant hybrid enzymes exhibit altered transcriptional patterns in that they are capable of transcribing both T7 and T3 DNA to various degrees. The aim of this study was to define more closely the region(s) of the gene 1 sequence which encodes the transcriptional selectivity determinant by correlating the genetic constitution of these hybrid gene 1 sequences with their transcriptional properties. The recombinant sites within the gene 1 regions of several T7/T3 hybrids were mapped by using restriction sit...