DNA Replication of Bacteriophage f1 In Vivo

Bacteriophage f1 is a filamentous phage that infects male strains of Escherichia coli. It is closely related to phages M13 and fd. All three phages contain a covalently circular, single-stranded (SS) DNA of 2 × 106 daltons as their genome. Genetic analyses have demonstrated the existence of eight genes (Pratt et al. 1969), which have been ordered on a circular map (Lyons and Zinder 1972). Only two phage genes are involved in DNA replication: gene II, which is required for the replication of both replicative form (RF) DNA and viral SS DNA, and gene V, which codes for an SS DNA-binding protein that is required for the synthesis of viral SS DNA.