Major spontaneous genomic rearrangements in Haemophilus influenzae S2 and HP1c1 bacteriophages.

Physical maps constructed by the localization of the cleavage site of several restriction endonucleases have shown that the genomes of the Haemophilus bacteriophages S2 and HP1c1 exist in variant forms which differ in the molecular organization of the genomes. At least three regions of different organization of the bacteriophage chromosomes have been identified. The different types of molecular organization can be detected both in the DNA isolated from the mature phage particles and after integration of the phage DNA into the bacterial chromosome.