Replication of T4 DNA in Escherichia coli treated with toluene

Deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates are incorporated into T4 DNA in infected cells treated with toluene. Under the proper conditions the incorporation is controlled by the known T4 DNA polymerase and proceeds by a semiconservative mechanism. Both strands of the phage DNA are replicated into a high molecular weight progeny molecule. The replication system is accessible to extracellular pancreatic DNase added to the reaction mixture. At early times after infection a second replication system, not under control of the gene 43 polymerase, has been detected which synthesizes T4 DNA in toluenized cells.