The process of infection with bacteriophage phiX174, XXI. Replication and fate of the replicative form

Abstract

Previous publications have described the formation of a double-stranded DNA intermediate(1) (replicative form, RF) during the replication of bacteriophage phiX174, the semiconservative replication at a bacterial "site"(2) of that RF containing the parental DNA strand,(3,4) and the persistence of the parental DNA strand at the site, accompanied by the release of the daughter RF.(5) The nascent RF molecules first appear as RFII,(6,7) and are rapidly converted to RFI. This paper considers the structure of the nascent RF molecules in more detail and inquires into the fate of the daughter RF molecules during the subsequent period of progeny single-strand DNA formation. A succeeding paper(8) will consider the process of formation of the progeny single-strands.