Process of Infection with Bacteriophage øX174: XIV. Studies on Macromolecular Synthesis during Infection with a Lysis-defective Mutant

Bacterial DNA, total RNA and protein synthesis have been studied in Escherichia coli C infected with a lysis-defective mutant of bacteriophage øX174. It has been found that host DNA synthesis ceases about 12 to 14 minutes after infection at 40°C, whereas RNA and protein synthesis continue throughout the infection. Host DNA synthesis does not stop when chloramphenicol (30 or 100 μg/ml.) is present before and during the infection. This result indicates that a phage-specific protein is responsible for the cessation of host DNA synthesis