Purification and characterization of the T4 bacteriophage uvsX protein.

Gene uvsX of bacteriophage T4 encodes a 40,000dalton protein that plays a key role in the major pathway for genetic recombination in T4-infected cells.Mutations at the uvsX locus lead to increased sensitivity to various DNA-damaging agents, reduced phage bursts, decreased genetic recombination, and early arrest of DNA synthesis.Like the Escherichia coli recA protein, the purified uvsX protein is a DNA-dependent ATPase that catalyzes pairing between homologous single-and double-stranded DNA molecules in vitro (Yonesaki, T.,