Single-stranded Phage Replication: Positive- and Negative-strand DNA Synthesis

The single-stranded phages are the smallest DNA-containing organisms that inhabit the microbial world. The host cell must supply almost all of the enzymatic machinery required for the DNA replication cycle of these phages. For this reason, such viruses are able to serve as a window into the DNA replication apparatus of Escherichia coli. The way in which the viral chromosome is processed during its replication reveals the reaction mechanisms of many host enzymes that normally play a role in bacterial DNA synthesis, but which, after infection, are commandeered by the virus.