In vitro synthesis of deoxynucleotide kinase programmed by bacteriophage "T4-RNA

RNA extracted from T4 phage-infected Escherichia coli cells can direct the synthesis of phage-specific deoxynucleotide kinase in a cell-free system from uninfected E. coli. The maximum messenger activity is obtained 8 min after infection at 37 degrees C and decreases there-after. The main activity of this messenger RNA has a sedimentation coefficient of about 15 S on a sucrose density gradient. The conditions necessary for the appearance of enzyme activity in vitro are the same as those required for de novo synthesis of protein. RNA from cells infected with a T4 amber mutant incapable of inducing the kinase in vivo lacks the ability to direct the synthesis of enzyme in vitro.