The genome of B. subtilis phage SSP1: the topology of DNA molecules.

DNA molecules of B. subtilis phage SPP1 exhibit terminal redundancy and are partially circularly permuted. This was established by the hybridization of selected EcoRI restriction fragments to single strands of SPP1 DNA and by an analysis of the distribution of denaturation loops in partially denatured SPP1 DNA molecules. Deletions in SSP1 DNA are not compensated by an increase in terminally repetitious DNA. This finding, which is unique to SPP1, is discussed in terms of a modification of the Streisinger/Botstein model of phage maturation.