Terminase Activity Research Articles

HK97 gp74 Possesses an α-Helical Insertion in the ββα Fold That Affects Its Metal Binding, cos Site Digestion, and In Vivo Activities.

The last gene in the genome of the bacteriophage HK97 encodes gp74, an HNH endonuclease. HNH motifs contain two conserved His residues and an invariant Asn residue, and they adopt a ββα structure. gp74 is essential for phage head morphogenesis, likely because gp74 enhances the specific endonuclease activity of the HK97 terminase complex. Notably, the ability of gp74 to enhance the terminase-mediated cleavage of the phage cos site requires an intact HNH motif in gp74. Mutation of H82, the conserved metal-binding His residue in the HNH motif, to Ala abrogates gp74-mediated stimulation of terminase activity. Here, we present nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies demonstrating that gp74 contains an α-helical insertion in the Ω-loop, which connects the two β-strands of the ββα fold, and a disordered C-terminal tail. NMR data indicate that the Ω-loop insert makes contacts to the ββα fold and influences the ability of gp74 to bind divalent metal ions. Further, the Ω-loop insert and C-terminal tail contribute to gp74-mediated DNA digestion and to gp74 activity in phage morphogenesis. The data presented here enrich our molecular-level understanding of how HNH endonucleases enhance terminase-mediated digestion of the cos site and contribute to the phage replication cycle.IMPORTANCE This study demonstrates that residues outside the canonical ββα fold, namely, the Ω-loop α-helical insert and a disordered C-terminal tail, regulate the activity of the HNH endonuclease gp74. The increased divalent metal ion binding when the Ω-loop insert is removed compared to reduced cos site digestion and phage formation indicates that the Ω-loop insert plays multiple regulatory roles. The data presented here provide insights into the molecular basis of the involvement of HNH proteins in phage DNA packing.

Strategies for purification of the bacteriophage HK97 small and large terminase subunits that yield pure and homogeneous samples that are functional

Packaging the viral genome in the head of double-stranded DNA viruses, such as bacteriophages, requires the activity of a terminase. The bacteriophage terminase consists of a small terminase subunit (TerS), which binds the viral DNA, and a large terminase subunit (TerL) that possesses the ATPase and nuclease activities for packaging the DNA in the phage head. Some phages require additional components for DNA packaging, such as the HNH endonuclease gp74 in the bacteriophage HK97. Gp74 enhances the activity of terminase-mediated digestion of the cohesive (cos) site that connects individual genomes in phage concatemeric DNA, a pre-requisite to DNA packaging, and this enhancement requires an intact HNH motif in gp74. Testing of whether gp74 alters the terminase DNA binding or enzymatic activities requires obtaining isolated samples of pure TerS and TerL, which has been challenging owing to the poor solubility of these proteins. To this end, we developed methods to obtain purified TerS and TerL proteins that are active. TerS is expressed solubly in E. coli as a fusion with SUMO, which can be removed during purification to yield a TerS nonamer (TerS9). Homogenous samples of a TerL monomer are also obtained, but the homogeneity of the sample depends on the solution conditions, as seen for other terminases. DNA binding, ATPase, and nuclease assays demonstrate that our preparations of TerS9 and TerL are functional, and that they also function with gp74. Purified TerS9 and TerL enable studies into the molecular basis by which gp74 regulates terminase activity in phage maturation.

Scrutinizing Virus Genome Termini by High-Throughput Sequencing

Analysis of genomic terminal sequences has been a major step in studies on viral DNA replication and packaging mechanisms. However, traditional methods to study genome termini are challenging due to the time-consuming protocols and their inefficiency where critical details are lost easily. Recent advances in next generation sequencing (NGS) have enabled it to be a powerful tool to study genome termini. In this study, using NGS we sequenced one iridovirus genome and twenty phage genomes and confirmed for the first time that the high frequency sequences (HFSs) found in the NGS reads are indeed the terminal sequences of viral genomes. Further, we established a criterion to distinguish the type of termini and the viral packaging mode. We also obtained additional terminal details such as terminal repeats, multi-termini, asymmetric termini. With this approach, we were able to simultaneously detect details of the genome termini as well as obtain the complete sequence of bacteriophage genomes. Theoretically, this application can be further extended to analyze larger and more complicated genomes of plant and animal viruses. This study proposed a novel and efficient method for research on viral replication, packaging, terminase activity, transcription regulation, and metabolism of the host cell.

Portal control of viral prohead expansion and DNA packaging

Bacteriophage T4 terminase packages DNA in vitro into empty small or large proheads (esps or elps). In vivo maturation of esps yields the more stable and voluminous elps required to contain the 170 kb T4 genome. Functional proheads can be assembled containing portal-GFP fusion proteins. In the absence of terminase activity these accumulated in esps in vivo, whereas wild-type portals were found in elps. By nuclease protection assay dsDNAs of lengths 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 5, 11, 20, 40 or 170 kb were efficiently packaged into wild-type elps in vitro, but less so into esps and gp20-GFP elps; particularly with DNAs shorter than 11 kb. However, 0.1 kb substrates were equally efficiently packaged into all types of proheads as judged by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. These data suggest the portal controls the expansion of the major capsid protein lattice during prohead maturation, and that this expansion is necessary for DNA protection but not for packaging.

Functional Analysis of the Bacteriophage T4 DNA-packaging ATPase Motor

Packaging of double-stranded DNA into bacteriophage capsids is driven by one of the most powerful force-generating motors reported to date. The phage T4 motor is constituted by gene product 16 (gp16) (18 kDa; small terminase), gp17 (70 kDa; large terminase), and gp20 (61 kDa; dodecameric portal). Extensive sequence alignments revealed that numerous phage and viral large terminases encode a common Walker-B motif in the N-terminal ATPase domain. The gp17 motif consists of a highly conserved aspartate (Asp255) preceded by four hydrophobic residues (251MIYI254), which are predicted to form a beta-strand. Combinatorial mutagenesis demonstrated that mutations that compromised hydrophobicity, or integrity of the beta-strand, resulted in a null phenotype, whereas certain changes in hydrophobicity resulted in cs/ts phenotypes. No substitutions, including a highly conservative glutamate, are tolerated at the conserved aspartate. Biochemical analyses revealed that the Asp255 mutants showed no detectable in vitro DNA packaging activity. The purified D255E, D255N, D255T, D255V, and D255E/E256D mutant proteins exhibited defective ATP binding and very low or no gp16-stimulated ATPase activity. The nuclease activity of gp17 is, however, retained, albeit at a greatly reduced level. These data define the N-terminal ATPase center in terminases and show for the first time that subtle defects in the ATP-Mg complex formation at this center lead to a profound loss of phage DNA packaging.

Herpes simplex virus DNA cleavage and packaging proteins associate with the procapsid prior to its maturation.

Packaging of DNA into preformed capsids is a fundamental early event in the assembly of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) virions. Replicated viral DNA genomes, in the form of complex branched concatemers, and unstable spherical precursor capsids termed procapsids are thought to be the substrates for the DNA-packaging reaction. In addition, seven viral proteins are required for packaging, although their individual functions are undefined. By analogy to well-characterized bacteriophage systems, the association of these proteins with various forms of capsids, including procapsids, might be expected to clarify their roles in the packaging process. While the HSV-1 UL6, UL15, UL25, and UL28 packaging proteins are known to associate with different forms of stable capsids, their association with procapsids has not been tested. Therefore, we isolated HSV-1 procapsids from infected cells and used Western blotting to identify the packaging proteins present. Procapsids contained UL15 and UL28 proteins; the levels of both proteins are diminished in more mature DNA-containing C-capsids. In contrast, UL6 protein levels were approximately the same in procapsids, B-capsids, and C-capsids. The amount of UL25 protein was reduced in procapsids relative to that in more mature B-capsids. Moreover, C-capsids contained the highest level of UL25 protein, 15-fold higher than that in procapsids. Our results support current hypotheses on HSV DNA packaging: (i) transient association of UL15 and UL28 proteins with maturing capsids is consistent with their proposed involvement in site-specific cleavage of the viral DNA (terminase activity); (ii) the UL6 protein may be an integral component of the capsid shell; and (iii) the UL25 protein may associate with capsids after scaffold loss and DNA packaging, sealing the DNA within capsids.

Endonuclease and Helicase Activities of Bacteriophage λ Terminase: Changing Nearby Residue 515 Restores Activity to the gpA K497D Mutant Enzyme

Terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage λ, is a heteromultimer of gpNu1 and gpA subunits. In an earlier investigation, a lethal mutation changing gpA residue 497 from lysine to aspartic acid (K497D) was found to cause a mild change in the high-affinity ATPase that resides in gpA and a severe defect in the endonuclease activity of terminase. The K497D terminase efficiently sponsored packaging of mature λ DNA into proheads. In the present work, K497D terminase was found to have a severe defect in the cohesive end separation, or helicase, activity. Plaque-forming pseudorevertants of λ A K497D were found to carry mutations in A that suppressed the lethality of the A K497D mutation. The two suppressor mutations identified, A E515G and A E515K, affected residue 515, which is located near the putative P-loop of gpA. A codon substitution study of codon 515 showed that hydrophobic and basic residues suppress the K497D defect, but hydrophilic and acidic residues do not. The E515G change was demonstrated to reverse the endonuclease and helicase defects caused by the K497D change. Moreover, the gpA K497D E515G enzyme was found to have kinetic constants for the high-affinity ATPase center similar to those of the wild type enzyme, and the endonuclease activity of the K497D E515G enzyme was stimulated by ATP to an extent similar to the ATP stimulation of the endonuclease activity of the wild type enzyme.

Functional analysis of the DNA-packaging/terminase protein gp17 from bacteriophage T4

In bacteriophage T4, the terminase complex constituted by the large subunit gp17 (69 kDa) and the small subunit gp16 (18 kDa) is a critical component of the ATP-driven DNA-packaging pump that translocates DNA into an empty capsid shell. Evidence suggests that the large subunit gp17 is the critical component and consists of a number of the functional sites required for DNA-packaging. It exhibits a terminase activity that introduces non-specific cuts into DNA, a portal vertex binding site that allows linkage of cleaved DNA to an empty prohead, an in vitro DNA-packaging activity, and an ATPase activity. In addition, a consensus metal-binding motif and two consensus ATP-binding sites have been identified by sequence analysis. In order to understand the mechanism of action of the multifunctional gp17, we developed an expression-based selection strategy to select for mutants that are defective in terminase function. Characterization of one of the mutants revealed a unique phenotype in which a single H436R mutation resulted in a dramatic loss of both the terminase and the DNA-packaging functions. Indeed, in vivo substitution of H436 with any of the 12 amino acids for which a suppressor is available was lethal to T4 development. According to one hypothesis, H436 is part of a metal-binding motif that is essential for gp17 function. This hypothesis was tested by introducing mutations at each of the three histidine pairs, the H382-X2-H385 pair, the H411-X2-H414 pair and the H430-X5-H436 pair, which constitute the histidine-rich region near the C terminus of gp17. A mutation at either the H411 pair or the H430 pair resulted in a loss of gp17 function, whereas a mutation at the H382 pair had no effect. In addition to the putative metal-binding motif, substitutions at residue K166 within the putative N terminus-proximal ATP-binding site also resulted in a loss of gp17 function. We propose that a metal-binding motif involving the histidine residues within the sequence H411-X2-H414-X15-H430-X5-H436 is essential for gp17 function. Metal-terminase interactions may be required for structural alignment and stabilization of functional sites in phage T4 terminase and other double-stranded DNA phage terminases.

Characterization of the Small Subunit of the Terminase Enzyme of theBacillus subtilisBacteriophage SPP1

The small subunit of bacteriophages SPP1 and SF6 terminase, G1P, share 71% identity clustered in three conserved segments (I, II, and III). Within segment I the helix–turn–helix DNA-binding domain was mapped, whereas segment III was found to be nonessential. For terminase activity, chimeric G1Ps, obtained by domain swapping between gene1of SPP1 and the SF6 origin (Chi1 to Chi4), were purified. The chimeric proteins behave in all respects similarly to the G1P of SPP1 or SF6. The major determinant for G1P:G1P interactions was found to lie within segment II. We showed that a G1P derivative (G1P*) lacking the 62 N-terminal residues (segment I), and Chi1 lacking the 45 C-terminal residues (segment III) interact with G1P. The N-terminal domain of G1P is necessary for terminase subunit assembly, because the large subunit of the terminase (G2P) interacts only with G1P and Chi1, but fails to do so with G1P*. These results suggest that segment III and the extended C-terminal part of SPP1 G1P do not play a major role in DNA recognition and that G1P recognizes an extended nucleotide sequence and DNA structure.

Mutations in the terminase genes of bacteriophage lambda that bypass the necessity for FI.

DNA maturation in bacteriophage lambda is the process by which the concatemeric precursor DNA is cleaved at sites called cos to generate mature lambda DNA molecules. These DNA molecules are then packaged into procapsids, the empty capsid precursors. The enzyme that catalyses these events is lambda DNA terminase. It is composed of two subunits, made of 181 and 641 amino acids, the products of genes Nu1 and A, respectively. The product of the FI gene (gpFI) stimulates the formation of an intermediate in capsid assembly called complex II, which contains a procapsid, terminase and DNA. The mechanism of stimulation remains unknown. It has been suggested that gpFI may also stimulate terminase-mediated cos cleavage, in the absence of procapsids, by increasing enzyme turnover. Mutants in FI fail to mature and package DNA but, in comparison with other capsid gene mutants, FI mutants are leaky. Second site mutants of FI phages, called 'fin' (for FI independence), bypass the necessity for gpFI. These mutants were originally localized to the region of Nu1 and A and are of two classes: finA includes those that induce the synthesis of fourfold more gene A product (gpA) than wild-type phages, and finB includes those that produce normal amounts of gpA. Whereas all finA mutants analysed map to Nu1, finB mutants have been found both in E and in Nu1. The existence of E mutants able to bypass the necessity for gpFI in vivo shows that gpE and gpFI interact, directly or indirectly. Here we have analysed and sequenced two finA mutants and one finB mutant. All of these map in Nu1. Of the two finA mutants, one corresponds to an Ala163Ser change and the other is a silent mutation. It is likely that the finA mutations alter mRNA conformation in a manner that results in an increase in the efficiency of A mRNA translation. The fourfold increase in gpA synthesis translates into a 10-fold increase in terminase activity. These results show that terminase overproduction is sufficient to bypass the necessity for gpFI and that such an overproduction can be achieved by changes in the efficiency of translation of A due to subtle changes in the sequence upstream of the gene. The finBcs103 mutation is a His-87-->Tyr change in Nu1. Therefore, an alternative way in which to bypass the requirement for gpFI involves an alteration in the structure of gpNu1. It is likely that the altered gpNu1 would increase cleavage and packaging efficiency directly or indirectly. We have determined that DNA cleavage in vivo does not occur in the absence of gpFI. Therefore it seems that gpFI somehow facilitates an otherwise latent capacity of terminase to autoactivate its nucleolytic activity.

Mutational analysis of bacteriophage φCTX cos site

The DNA of φCTX contains the gene ctx, located closely downstream of cos. This encodes for the pore-forming cytotoxin protein, CTX. φCTX converts some Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains into CTX producer. After different periods of φCTX infection, two distinct forms of phage DNA were isolated: circular DNA from bacterial cytosol and later linear DNA from φCTX particles. When circular φCTX DNA was transfected into the P. aeruginosa strains CF5 and E40, φCTX was amplified and ctx expressed. φCTX induced a protein fraction in CF5 cells that cleaved the 0.477 kb cos fragment at the cos site, indicating terminase activity. Deletion and point mutation variants of the cos DNA were prepared. Protein binding to DNA in vitro and competition experiments in vivo showed that portions of the cos site and its flanking sequences are differentially critical to the binding of φCTX-induced proteins.

Mutations Affecting the High Affinity ATPase Center of gpA, the Large Subunit of Bacteriophage λ Terminase, Inactivate the Endonuclease Activity of Terminase

Phage λ terminase carries out the coscleavage reaction that generates mature chromosomes from immature concatemeric DNA. The ATP-stimu lated endonuclease activity of terminase is located in gpA, the large terminase subunit. There is a high affinity ATPase center in gpA, and a match to the conserved P-loop of known ATPases is found starting near residue 490. Changing the conserved P-loop lysine at residue 497 of gpA affects the high affinity ATPase activity of terminase. In the present work, mutations causing the gpA changes K 497A and K 497D were found to be lethal, and phages carrying these mutations were defective in coscleavage, in vivo. Purified K 497A and K 497D enzymes cleaved cos in vitroat rates reduced from the wild-type rate by factors of 1000 and 2000, respectively. The strong defects in coscleavage are sufficient to explain the lethality of the K 497A and K 497D defects. In in vitropackaging studies using mature (cleaved) phage DNA, the K 497A enzyme was indistinguishable from the wild-type enzyme, and the K 497D enzyme showed a mild packaging defect under limiting terminase conditions. In a purified DNA packaging system, the wild-type and K 497D enzymes showed similar packaging activities that were stimulated to half-maximal levels at about 3 μM ATP, indicating that the K 497D change does not affect DNA translocation. In sum, the work indicates that the high affinity ATPase center of gpA is involved in stimulation of the endonuclease activity of terminase.

Kinetic and mutational dissection of the two ATPase activities of terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage Chi.

Terminase the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage chi, is a heteromultimer of gpNul (21 kDa) and gpA (74 kDa) subunits, encoded by the chi Nul and A genes, respectively. Sequence comparisons indicate that both gpNu1 and gpA have a match to the P-loop motif of ATPase centers, which is a glycine-rich segment followed by a lysine. By site-specific mutagenesis, we changed the lysines of the putative P-loops of gpNul (k35) and gpA (K497) to arginine, alanine, or aspartic acid, and studied the mutant enzymes by kinetic analysis and photochemical cross-linking with 8-azido-ATP. Both the gpNul and gpA subunits of wild-type terminase were covalently modified with 8-N3[32P] ATP in the presence of UV light. Saturation occurred with apparent dissociation constants of 508 and 3.5 microM for gpNul and gpA, resepctively. ATPase assays showed two activities: a low-affinity activity (Km=469 microM), and a high-affinity activity (Km=4.6 microM). The gpNul K35A and gpNul K35D mutant terminases showed decreased activity in the low-affinity ATPase activity. The reduced activities of these enzymes were recovered when 10 times more DNA was added, suggesting that the primary defect of the enzymes is alteration of the nonspecific, double-stranded DNA binding activity of terminase. ATPase assays and photolabeling of the gpA K497A and gpA K497D mutant terminases showed reduced affinity for ATP at the high-affinity site which was not restored by increased DNA. In summary, the results indicate the presence of a low-affinity, DNA-stimulated ATPase center in gpNul, and a high-affinity site in gpA.

Virus DNA packaging: the strategy used by phage lambda.

Phage lambda, like a number of other large DNA bacteriophages and the herpesviruses, produces concatemeric DNA during DNA replication. The concatemeric DNA is processed to produce unit-length, virion DNA by cutting at specific sites along the concatemer. DNA cutting is co-ordinated with DNA packaging, the process of translocation of the cut DNA into the preformed capsid precursor, the prohead. A key player in the lambda DNA packaging process is the phage-encoded enzyme terminase, which is involved in (i) recognition of the concatemeric lambda DNA; (ii) initiation of packaging, which includes the introduction of staggered nicks at cosN to generate the cohesive ends of virion DNA and the binding of the prohead; (iii) DNA packaging, possibly including the ATP-driven DNA translocation; and (iv) following translocation, the cutting of the terminal cosN to complete DNA packaging. To one side of cosN is the site cosB, which plays a role in the initiation of packaging; along with ATP, cosB stimulates the efficiency and adds fidelity to the endonuclease activity of terminase in cutting cosN. cosB is essential for the formation of a post-cleavage complex with terminase, complex I, that binds the prohead, forming a ternary assembly, complex II. Terminase interacts with cosN through its large subunit, gpA, and the small terminase subunit, gpNu1, interacts with cosB. Packaging follows complex II formation. cosN is flanked on the other side by the site cosQ, which is needed for termination, but not initiation, of DNA packaging. cosQ is required for cutting of the second cosN, i.e. the cosN at which termination occurs. DNA packaging in lambda has aspects that differ from other lambda DNA transactions. Unlike the site-specific recombination system of lambda, for DNA packaging the initial site-specific protein assemblage gives way to a mobile, translocating complex, and unlike the DNA replication system of lambda, the same protein machinery is used for both initiation and translocation during lambda DNA packaging.

The in vitro endonuclease activity of gene product A, the large subunit of the bacteriophage lambda terminase, and its relationship to the endonuclease activity of the holoenzyme.

The reaction requirements and kinetic properties of the in vitro endonuclease activity of the bacteriophage lambda terminase and its large subunit, gene product (gp) A, have been analyzed. Optimal cleavage reaction activity for both proteins requires Mg2+, a pH between 8.5 and 9.0, and is enhanced by ATP or ATP analogs. Under these conditions both terminase and gpA generate aberrant nicks in and around cosN. Optimal nicking specificity of terminase is observed under conditions of 50-100 mM salt, 5 mM spermidine, 1.5 mM ATP, and a pH between 7.0 and 7.5. Specific activity of terminase is greatly reduced under these conditions, and gpA is completely inactive at all protein concentrations tested. Under optimal reaction conditions, gpA endonuclease activity differs from that of the holoenzyme in that it can only be detected at high concentrations, is strongly protein concentration-dependent, and can not be stimulated by the Escherichia coli protein integration host factor. Addition of purified gpNu1 partially, but not completely, minimized these differences, suggesting that the role of gpNu1 in the holoenzyme is to modulate the basal endonuclease of gpA.

A Novel Terminase Activity Associated with the DNA Packaging Protein gp17 of Bacteriophage T4

The mechanism of generation of circularly permuted ends in bacteriophage T4 by a strictly headful packaging process has remained unresolved since its proposal by Streisinger et al. (1967, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 57, 292-295). In this paper, we show that the phage T4 DNA packaging proteins gp 16 and gp17 act as T4 terminase. Expression of gp 16 and gp 17 in Escherichia coli resulted in extensive cleavage of both plasmid as well as E. coli genomic DNAS. Analysis of a number of recombinant terminase constructs, and mutants in gene 17, demonstrated that the active site for cleavage of DNA is located in gp17, but not in gp16. Consistent with the circularly permuted nature of phage T4 ends, cleavage by gp17 occurred in a sequence independent manner generating random ends. The terminase cutting occurred preferentially on a DNA substrate that is transcriptionally active. We propose that a structural feature in the transcriptionally active region provides a site for attachment of terminase to DNA following which the terminase moves along the DNA, and cleaves at a random sequence.

Sites and gene products involved in lambdoid phage DNA packaging.

21 is a temperate lambdoid coliphage, and the genes that encode the head proteins of lambda and 21 are descended from a common ancestral bacteriophage. The sequencing of terminase genes 1 and 2 of 21 was completed, along with that of a segment at the right end of 21 DNA that includes the R4 sequence. The R4 sequence, a site that is likely involved in termination of DNA packaging, was found to be very similar to the R4 sequences of lambda and phi 80, suggesting that R4 is a recognition site that is not phage specific. DNA packaging by 21 is dependent on a host protein, integration host factor. A series of mutations in gene 1 (her mutations), which allow integration host factor-independent DNA packaging by 21, were found to be missense changes that affect predicted alpha-helixes in gp1. gp2, the large terminase subunit, is predicted to contain an ATP-binding domain and, perhaps, a second domain important for the cos-cutting activity of terminase. orf1, an open reading frame analogous in position to FI, a lambda gene involved in DNA packaging, shares some sequence identity with FI. orf1 was inactivated with nonsense and insertion mutations; these mutations were found not to affect phage growth. 21 was also not able to complement a lambda FI mutant.

Specificity of cleavage in replicative-form DNA of bovine herpesvirus 1.

The linear double-stranded DNA genome of herpesvirus as it is present in infectious virions needs to be circularized after infection of host cells and before DNA replication. Replicative-form genomes have to be cleaved into linear unit-length molecules during virion maturation and are most probably the substrate for inversion of the short segment relative to the long segment of the bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) genome. Those regions of the BHV-1 genome which are functionally involved in these processes have been analyzed at the molecular level by cloning and sequencing the genomic termini, the fusion of both termini from replicative-form molecules, and the junction between the short and the long genome segment. On the basis of the simple genome arrangement of BHV-1, it was inferable that the cleavage of replicative-form genomes by a hypothetical BHV-1 terminase activity may be specified by a sequence at the left end of UL (An element), which is located proximal to a reiterated beta element that makes up the cleavage site itself. The relationship of those elements in BHV-1 and the comparison to similar regions of other herpesviruses indicate consensus sequence elements which are functionally important for cleavage and isomerization of viral DNA during maturation of virions.

Terminase host factor: a histone-like E. coli protein which can bind to the cos region of bacteriophage lambda DNA.

Terminase Host Factor (THF), an E. coli protein capable of fulfilling the host factor requirement for in vitro bacteriophage lambda terminase activity, displays properties characteristic of the prokaryotic type II DNA-binding or "histone-like" proteins. It is a 22 K basic, heat- and acid-stable protein which binds non-specifically to various DNAs. Conditions can be established, however, where THF binds preferentially to the cohesive end site (cos) of lambda DNA forming several distinct complexes as visualized by band retardation in polyacrylamide gels. DNase I footprinting reveals that THF can protect several regions of the top strand on the right side (+) of cos but does not bind as well to the left side (-). The binding regions are separated either by unprotected or by DNase I- hypersensitive bases. Under the conditions used in these experiments, DNA which does not contain cos lambda sequences does not show this pattern of protection. Several repeated motifs in the cos lambda nucleotide sequence may represent a consensus sequence for THF interaction. THF may be similar to other "histone-like" proteins which display both non-specific and selective DNA-binding capacities.

DNA packaging in the lambdoid phages: The role of λ genes Nu1 and A

Of all the morphogenic genes of the coliphage λ, only Nu1 and A are both necessary and sufficient for terminase activity in vitro. Previously we have reported that extracts of Nu1 −- and Aam −-infected cells will not complement each other to promote packaging in an in vitro assay (A. Becker, H. Murialdo, and M. Gold, Virology, 78, 277–290, 1977). We report here that such complementation is possible under certain conditions; furthermore, complementation appears to proceed in a noncatalytic fashion. The product of gene Nu1 (gpNu1) therefore does not appear to be involved in the synthesis of the product of gene A (gpA). We discuss the hypothesis that λ terminase is a heterodimer consisting of gpNu1 and gpA subunits, and show that neither of these subunits alone is able to promote either the DNA-cutting or prohead-filling events of packaging.