THE STRUCTURAL UNITY OF THE DNA OF T2 BACTERIOPHAGE

Abstract

Escherichia coli heavily labeled with P32 was infected with T2 bacteriophage, and the progeny phage released on the lysis of the cells were purified by chromatography. The zone centrifugation and chromatographic behavior of the P32-DNA obtained from this phage preparation did not differ from that of un-labeled T2 DNA, demonstrating that growth in radioactive solutions did not detectably modify the DNA. Comparison of the autoradiographs obtained from the phage or the DNA released from the phage showed that all the DNA in each particle was present in one structural entity which might be identified as a DNA molecule.