Streptomycin-induced phenotypic suppression of hydroxylamine-induced nonsense mutants in the rII A cistron of bacteriophage T4.

Twenty-one hydroxylamine-induced rII A cistron nonsense mutants were tested for streptomycin (SM)-induced phenotypic suppression by exposing Escherichia coli SBO (nonpermissive host) to phage in the presence and absence of SM. All nine amber, four of six ochre, and five of six opal mutants were phenotypically suppressible by SM. For suppressible mutants, the ratio of the average burst size in the presence of SM to size in the absence of SM ranged from 12 to 242 for the ambers, 3 to 33 for the ochres, and 4 to 14 for the opals. Increased susceptibility of the amber mutants to SM-induced phenotypic suppression relative to the susceptibility of the opal and ochre mutants may reflect a neighboring base effect, such that a 3'-terminal adenine inhibits misreading of a 5'-terminal uracil.