Hostname: page-component-6b989bf9dc-vmcqm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-14T11:02:52.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Damage in DNA of an infecting phage T4 shifts reproduction from asexual to sexual allowing rescue of its genes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Carol Bernstein
Carol Bernstein
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85724
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The selective advantage of sexual reproduction is widely regarded as a major unsolved problem in biology. Recently, it has been proposed that the fundamental selective advantage of sex is its promotion of recombinational repair and hence survival of DNA in the germ line of organisms. A bacteriophage T4 system was set up to test this theory. After a phage T4 injects its DNA into an Escherichia coli cell it quickly establishes a barrier, through its immunity function, to infection by a second phage T4, arriving at a later time. This barrier causes phage T4 to reproduce asexually. The immunity barrier has a selective advantage in preserving the host cell as a sole resource for the first phage. If the first phage's DNA is damaged by UV irradiation, however, it has a reduced probability of being able to survive in the host cell when it is there alone. It was found that UV irradiation, in addition to reducing the first phage's viability, also prevents the first phage from raising an effective immunity barrier. This UV-induced reduction in immunity now allows sexual interaction with later-arriving secondary phage or sexual reproduction. It was found that these secondary phage enhanced survival of genes of the UV-damaged first phage. This supports the theory that under DNA-damaging conditions, which should be prevalent in nature, sex would have a selective advantage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , June 1987 , pp. 183 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

References

Adams, M. H. (1959). Bacteriophages. New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, G. (1982). The Masterpiece of Nature. The Evolution and Genetics of Sexuality. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bernstein, C. (1979). Why are babies young? Meiosis may prevent aging of the germ line. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 22, 539–544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, H., Byers, G. S. & Michod, R. E. (1981). Evolution of sexual reproduction: importance of DNA repair, complementation and variation. American Naturalist 117, 537–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, H., Byerly, H., Hopf, F. A. & Michod, R. E. (1985). Genetic damage, mutation and the evolution of sex. Science 229, 1277–1281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornett, J. B. (1974). Spackle and immunity functions of bacteriophage T4. Journal of Virology 13, 312–321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dulbecco, R. (1952 a). A critical test of the recombination theory of multiplicity reactivation. Journal of Bacteriology 63, 199–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dulbecco, R. (1952 b). Mutual exclusion between related phages. Journal of Bacteriology 63, 209–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harm, W. (1980). Biological effects of ultraviolet irradiation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Karska-Wysocki, B., Racine, J.-F. & Mamet-Bratley, M. D. (1982). Alkylation of T7 bacteriophage blocks superinfection exclusion. Journal of Virology 44, 708–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krieg, D. R. (1959). A study of gene action in ultraviolet-irradiated bacteriophage T4. Virology 8, 80–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luria, S. E. & Dulbecco, R. (1949). Genetic recombinations leading to production of active bacteriophage from ultraviolet inactivated bacteriophage particles. Genetics 34, 93–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maynard-Smith, J. (1978). The Evolution of Sex. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mufti, S. (1972). A bacteriophage T4 mutant defective in protection against superinfecting phage. Journal of General Virology 17, 119–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Puck, T. T., Garen, A. & Cline, J. (1951). The mechanisms of virus attachment to host cells. I. The role of ions in the primary reaction. Journal of Experimental Medicine 93, 65–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, S., Bernstein, C. & Bernstein, H. (1978). Recombinational repair of alkylation lesions in phage T4 I. N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. Molecular and General Genetics 167, 185–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sinden, R. R. & Pettijohn, D. E. (1982). Torsional tension in intracellular bacteriophage T4 DNA. Evidence that a linear DNA duplex can be supercoiled in vivo. Journal of Molecular Biology 162, 659–677.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snustad, D. P. (1966 a). Limited genome expression in bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli. I. Demonstration of the effect. Genetics 54, 923–935.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snustad, D. P. (1966 b). Limited genome expression in bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli. II. Development and examination of a model. Genetics 54, 937–954.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, C. M. & Edgar, R. S. (1962). A critical test of a current theory of genetic recombination in bacteriophage. Genetics 47, 187–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vallee, M. & Cornett, J. B. (1972). A new gene of bacteriophage T4 determining immunity against superinfecting ghosts and phage in T4-infected Escherichia coli. Virology 48, 777–784.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, G. C. (1975). Sex and Evolution. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press:Google ScholarPubMed