Proteus mirabilis phage 5006M: a physical characterization.

This report deals with physical characterization of the generalized transducing Proteus mirabilis phage 5006M. The morphology of the phage is presented, the buoyant density was determined (1.491 g/ml) and the G + C content of the phage DNA was found to be 44%. The phage genome has a length of 14.8 micrometers and mol. wt. of 30.7 x 10(6). Denaturation mapping revealed non-random circular permutation of the phage DNA. The genome exhibits 3.6% terminal redundancy as shown by homoduplex analysis. The existence of concatemeric precursors of phage 5006M DNA is inferred and the results are interpreted in terms of a sequential headful packaging mechanism.