Molecular biology of lactococcal bacteriophage c2

The 22163 bp genome of the lytic prolate-headed lactococcal phage c2 was fully sequenced. Mapping of restriction sites and RNA transcripts demonstrated the presence of early and late genes. Early and late promoters were identified. The early region contained 21 ORFs, with predicted protein products of 4.4-32.9 kDA, all reading right to left. Significant similarity was found between a putative protein encoded by an early region ORF and the erf (essential recombination function) gene product of Salmonella phage P22. The late genes for which a function has been identified, all of which read from left to right, included a possible holin gene, and genes encoding three major and six minor phage structural proteins. Analysis of the cohesive termini revealed complementary, non-symmetrical, 9-base single-stranded 3' extended DNAs. The exploitation of phage sequence data and analysis of phage genomes to find ways of inhibiting phage replication is discussed.