Integration of a temperate phage infecting Spiroplasma citri.

A physical map of the genome of a temperate Type 3 spiroplasma-virus, ai, has been constructed. Host DNA has been digested with restriction enzymes, and recombinant DNA clones of ai fragments in coliphage M13 vectors have been used as probes to detect viral DNA sequences integrated into spiroplasmas. All strains of Spiroplasma citri examined contained a deleted form of ai integrated as a cryptic prophage which was unable to confer resistance to ai superinfection. Stable ai lysogens also contained a complete ai genome. We propose that the infecting viral DNA circularizes and integrates adjacent to the cryptic prophage in a site-specific recombination event at unique points in both the virus and host genomes.