Bacteriophage λ, after infecting a cell, can integrateinto the chromosome of the cell if the repressor protein, cI, binds to and shuts down phage transcriptionimmediately. (A strain containing a bacteriophageDNA integrated into the chromosome is called a lysogen.) The alternative fate is the production of manymore viruses and lysis of the cell. In a mating, a donor strain that is a lysogen was crossed with a lysogenic recipient cell, and no phages were produced.However, when the lysogen donor strain transferredits DNA to a nonlysogenic recipient cell, the recipientcell burst, releasing a new generation of phages. a. Why did the mating with a nonlysogenic recipientresult in phage growth and release, but the infectionof a lysogenic recipient did not?
Bacteriophage λ, after infecting a cell, can integrate
into the chromosome of the cell if the repressor protein, cI, binds to and shuts down phage transcription
immediately. (A strain containing a bacteriophage
DNA integrated into the chromosome is called a lysogen.) The alternative fate is the production of many
more viruses and lysis of the cell. In a mating, a donor strain that is a lysogen was crossed with a lysogenic recipient cell, and no phages were produced.
However, when the lysogen donor strain transferred
its DNA to a nonlysogenic recipient cell, the recipient
cell burst, releasing a new generation of phages. a. Why did the mating with a nonlysogenic recipient
result in phage growth and release, but the infection
of a lysogenic recipient did not?
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