Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis Phage Deoxyribonucleic Acid-directed Deoxycytidylate Deaminase Synthesis in Escherichia coli Extracts

A cell-free extract of Escherichia coli was induced by DNAs, prepared from various bacteriophages, to synthesize deoxycytidylate deaminase in vitro. With T4 DNA, only low levels of dCMP deaminase were synthesized. However, DNAs from two Bacillus subtilis bacteriophages, SP82 and SP5C, furnished very active templates for dCMP deaminase synthesis in the E. coli system. Each of these phages induces dCMP deaminase during infection of B. subtilis in vivo. Conversely, DNA from the B. subtilis bacteriophage SP3, which poorly induces dCMP deaminase in vivo, did not produce a dCMP deaminase synthesis in vitro. The synthesis of dCMP deaminase was shown to depend on both transcription and translation.