Alkali lability of bacteriophage phi W-14 DNA

The molecular weight of bacteriophage phi W-14 DNA, determined by velocity sedimentation in neutral sucrose gradients, was 92 +/- 6 X 10(6). The DNA showed marked fragmentation in alkaline sucrose gradients. This fragmentation was not a consequence of preexisting single-strand interruptions in the DNA, since thermal denaturation of DNA yielded intact single strands. The alpha-putrescinylthymine groups in phi W-14 DNA appeared to be labile; some, or parts of some, of these groups were cleaved from the DNA in alkali.