Here, we describe a novel virulent bacteriophage that infects Bacillus weihenstephanensis, isolated from soil in Austria. It is the first phage to be discovered that infects this species. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of this podovirus.

We have investigated the 3'-5'-exonuclease activity of phage T7 DNA polymerase for its usefulness as an approach for the detection of lesions in DNA. Unlike the T4 DNA polymerase-exonuclease, which is commonly used to map the position and frequency of lesions in very small DNA fragments, T7 DNA polymerase-exonuclease is able to hydrolyse almost completely the large fragments from KpnI-restricte...

We report fluorescence assays for a functionally important conformational change in bacteriophage T7 DNA polymerase (T7 pol) that use the environmental sensitivity of a Cy3 dye attached to a DNA substrate. An increase in fluorescence intensity of Cy3 is observed at the single-molecule level, reflecting a conformational change within the T7 pol ternary complex upon binding of a dNTP substrate. T...

Bacteriophages are the most abundant viruses found on earth with population densities approximately ten fold of prokaryotes in the same environments. As a result, interspecies competition likely plays a large role in regulating phage populations in the environment. T4 and T7, two of the most well characterized bacteriophages, infect Escherichia coli. Co-infection experiments using E. coli can b...

Chemokines and IFN-gamma function as central regulators of inflammatory responses to vascular injury. Both classes of cytokines are upregulated during restenosis, a response to vascular injury that leads to recurrent atherosclerotic plaque growth, but the relative impact of each class of cytokines remains undetermined. M-T7 is a secreted myxoma viral immunomodulatory glycoprotein that functions...

Use of bacteriophages as a therapy for bacterial infection has been attempted over the last century. Such an endeavor requires the elucidation of basic aspects of the host-virus interactions and the resistance mechanisms of the host. Two recently developed bacterial collections now enable a genomewide search of the genetic interactions between Escherichia coli and bacteriophages. We have screen...

A crystal structure of the bacteriophage T7 gene 5 protein/Escherichia coli thioredoxin complex reveals a region in the exonuclease domain (residues 144-157) that is not present in other members of the E. coli DNA polymerase I family. To examine the role of this region, a genetically altered enzyme that lacked residues 144-157 (T7 polymerase (pol) Delta144-157) was purified and characterized bi...

A new temperature-regulated T7 RNA polymerase-driven transcription system has been developed. This system is based on a hybrid regulatory region: the phage T7 late promoter (PT7) linked to the Escherichia coli lac operator (Olac) [Giordano et al., Gene 84 (1989) 209-219], which was located in an earlier obtained [Mashko et al., Gene 97 (1991) 259-266] temperature-controlled amplifiable plasmid,...

We have characterized transcripts synthesized in vivo by bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase to investigate yeast mRNA processing. T7 transcripts are not capped, consistent with capping being tightly coupled to RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription. In contrast to higher eukaryotic non-pol II transcripts, yeast T7 transcripts are spliced as well as cleaved and polyadenylated. However, T7 and pol...