A new gene of bacteriophage P4 that controls DNA replication

Bacteriophage P4 replication may result in either a lytic cycle or plasmid maintenance, depending on the presence or absence, respectively, of helper phase P2 genome. Bacteriophage P4 DNA replication depends on the product of gene alpha, which has origin recognition, primase, and helicase activities. An open reading frame with the coding capacity for a protein of 106 amino acids (orf106) is located upstream of the alpha gene. Genes orf106 and alpha are transcriptionally coregulated. Three amber mutations and an internal deletion (del51) were introduced into orf106. All of the amber mutations exhibited a polar effect on transcription of the downstream alpha gene. The P4 del51 mutant was slightly defective in lytic growth and could not be propagated in the plasmid state. In this latter condition, P4 DNA overreplication was observed. Overexpression of Orf106 severely inhibited P4 DNA replication, preventing P4 lytic growth and plasmid maintenance. The inhibitory effect of Orf106 on P4 replication was not observed when both orf106 and alpha were overexpressed. We suggest that orf106 is involved in P4 replication and that a balanced expression of orf106 relative to alpha may be necessary for proper P4 DNA replication. In particular, orf106 appears to be essential for the control of P4 genome replication in the plasmid state. We propose that orf106 be named cnr, for copy number regulation.