Genome interactions which influence DNA palindrome mediated instability and inviability in Escherichia coli

The interaction of three factors determine the detrimental effect of a palindromic DNA sequence in Escherichia coli cells. The first is the nature of the palindrome (its length, extent of central asymmetry and perhaps its base sequence), the second is the genotype of the host cell and the third is the replicon within which it is located. In this paper we extend the genetic and physical characterization of lambda bacteriophages carrying a palindrome of approximately 560 base pairs. We also show that a palindrome of approximately 110 base pairs which can be cloned in a plasmid cannot be cloned in a phage M13 derivative. These observations are relevant to the choice of vectors used in the cloning of eukaryotic DNA containing palindromic sequences.