The coupling of DNA repair-recombination functions with DNA replication in bacteriophage T4: a new DNA repair mutant.

The requirement of DNA repair-recombination functions for T4 phage DNA replication has been known for some time but the underlying basis for this relationship has been unclear. This report is concerned with a new uv-sensitive gene [uvsU], whose function appears to bridge these two major activities of DNA. The [uvsU] mutant fails to complement [uvsX] mutants but uvsU maps in a region distinct from uvsX. Furthermore, the uvsU mutation specifically suppressed the DNA replication defect but not the uv sensitivity of the uvsX mutation. The previously discovered uvsW gene, whose mutations suppress the DNA replication defects of gene 59, 46, and 47 mutations, seems to have an analogous role. As a possible explanation for these observations, it is suggested that the uvsW and uvsU gene products (gps) couple the DNA repair-recombination and replication functions by controlling the entry of DNA intermediates from the replication pool into the DNA repair-recombination pathway. Furthermore the suppression data are interpreted to suggest that the gps uvsW, 59, 46, and 47 function together. Similarly the gps uvsU and uvsX may form a functional unit.