Cloning of the bacteriophage T7 lysozyme gene

Plasmid pBR322 and its derivative containing strong promoter phi 10 of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase were used as vectors. A fragment of bacteriophage T7 DNA which was digested with two restriction endonucleases (AvaII and HaeIII) was cloned in the BamHI site of plasmid pBR322 and its derivative pAR951, respectively. The inserted DNA is a segment of 632 base pairs containing the complete coding sequence of both T7 gene 3.5 and weak promoter phi 3.8 for bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. The function of T7 gene 3.5 is known to code for bacteriophage T7 lysozyme. Transformants that carry the recombinant plasmid were tested for intracellular lysozyme by adding CHCl3. Both cloned strains produce active T7 lysozyme. The gene product, T7 3.5 protein, was analyzed by 10 -20% gradient polyacrylamide- SDS electrophoresis. The result showed that the expression of inserted T7 gene 3.5 in pBR322 derivative is stronger than that in pBR322.