Late events in T4 bacteriophage DNA replication. III. Specificity of DNA reinitiation as revealed by hybridization to cloned genetic fragments.

Through the use of the technique of hybridization to cloned genes, the site specificity of the reinitiation of T4 DNA replication was examined at late times after infection, when a large amount of DNA had accumulated in the infected cell. Replication was examined under two conditions; (i) when there was recombination but the repair of the recombinants was inhibited, and (ii) when recombination was followed by covalent joining. When no covalent repair of recombinant was allowed, reinitiation occurred in the areas known to be also involved in the initiation of replication of the parental molecule: thus late reinitiation, if covalent joining is prevented, is site specific. When there was covalent joining, reinitiation displayed no apparent site specificity. The results are discussed in light of the possibility that at late times after infection recombinant intersections act as primers. The similarity of the model proposed to the "break-and-copy" model for lambda phage and the fitness of the proposed model to the genetic phenomena described by others are emphasized.