Function of IHF in lambda DNA packaging. II. Effects of mutations altering the IHF binding site and the intrinsic...

cosB is the binding site on lambda DNA for terminase, the phage DNA packaging protein. cosB contains three binding sites for gpNu1, the small subunit of terminase, and a site for integration host factor (IHF). IHF plays an accessory role in lambda DNA packaging, and IHF stimulates the burst size of lambda several-fold, presumably by assisting the interaction of terminase with cosB. The present work includes a study of the effect on lambda development of a mutation, called I1A-, which consists of three adjacent base-pair changes in the IHF binding site. The I1A- mutation was found to abolish IHF stimulation of the lambda burst size, indicating that IHF is unable to bind to the mutant I1A site. A second mutation, called I1B- and also consisting of three adjacent base-pair changes, is a mutation that reduces an intrinsic bend found in cosB. lambda I1B- was more dependent on IHF than lambda+, raising the possibility that the intrinsic bend in cosB plays a role in cos function for lambda+ under the IHF- conditions. In vitro DNA packaging experiments established that the I1 mutations affect DNA packaging per se. A series of Nu1 mutations that create terminases able to suppress a variety of cosB defects were found to suppress the defects of the I1A- and I1B- mutations under IHF- conditions.