Structure of Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi 29 and the length of phi 29 deoxyribonucleic acid.

Anderson, D. L. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis), D. D. Hickman, and B. E. Reilly. Structure of Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi29 and the length of phi29 deoxyribonucleic acid. J. Bacteriol. 91:2081-2089. 1966-Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi29 were negatively stained with phosphotungstic acid. The head of phi29 has a hexagonal outline with a flattened base, and is about 315 A wide and 415 A in length. The virus has an intricate tail about 325 A in length. Twelve spindle-shaped appendages are attached to the lower of two collars which comprise the proximal portion of the tail. The distal 130 A of the tail axis has a diameter of about 60 A and is larger in diameter than the axis of the upper portion of the tail. Comparison of electron microscopic counts of phi29 with plaque-forming units indicated that about 50% of the microscopic entities were infective. Phenol-extracted phi29 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules were prepared for electron microscopy by the cytochrome c film technique of Kleinschmidt et al. Measurement of contour lengths of DNA molecules from three preparations gave skewed distributions of lengths with observed modal class values ranging from 5.7 to 5.9 mu. Assuming that phi29 DNA is a double helix in the B form, the corresponding molecular weights would be 10.9 x 10(6) to 11.3 x 10(6) daltons. The largest DNA molecules would have a volume of 1.9 x 10(7) A(3) which is about 25% greater than the estimated 1.4 x 10(7) A(3) internal volume of the phage head.