The influence of host DNA replication on the formation of infectious and transducing Mu-particles.

We have investigated the influence of bacterial DNA replication on the formation of infectious and transducing Mu-particles. The data obtained agree with the previous findings that growth of phage Mu is independent of the host dnaA gene product (Toussaint and Faelen 1974), but required bacterial replication forks (Fitts and Taylor 1980). The replication of transducing DNA during phage development (Teifel and Schmieger 1979) is controlled by the host and is not a precondition for its packaging. Packaging of transducing DNA does not require a a nearby Mu genome.