The effects of Escherichia coli and yeast DNA insertions on the growth of lambda bacteriophage.

The effects of Eco RI endonuclease-cleaved Escherichia coli and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) DNA fragments on the propagation of the lambda bacteriophage vectors containing them were determined on a nonmutanted and a PolA E. coli K12 host. Observable alterations in the growth of hybrids containing yeast DNA insertions were less frequent and less extreme than those seen in hybrids containing E. coli DNA. A lambda-E. coli hybrid was selected after extensive growth on the Pol A (deficient in polymerase I) host which also grew very well on the PolA+ host and may have resulted from some alteration in the hybrid. Hybrids selected on the PolA host gave no evidence for the expression of polymerase I activity. No lambda-yeast hybrid made from the lambdagt vector lacking lambda-specific recombination (red-) had a yield of viable bacteriophage on infection greater than two-thirds that of "wild-type" lambda.