PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL-PROPERTIES OF DNA FROM PSEUDOMONAS BACTERIOPHAGE POPULATION

The genomes of 24 Pseudomonas bacteriophages which were similar morphologically and structurally were studied. The DNA from 23 phages representing a population distributed over Belorussian SSR and from one phage found in the Krasnodar region were double helixes containing 46.8-66.7% GC base pairs. The four endonucleases, Eco RI, Hind III, Bam HI, and Eco RV were utilized in restriction analysis. Phage 8, which had a different area of distribution from the other phages, represented a separate group. The other phages were subdivided into eight related groups and had an identical restriction map within each group. The average molecular masses of the phage DNA calculated by summation of the molecular masses of restricts ranged from 27.8 to 31.0 MDa.