Disease relevance of gam

• These plasmids include an origin of replication and a segment of the bacteriophage lambda genome comprising the red genes (exo, bet and gam) under their native control [1].
• The protein encoded by the gam gene of bacteriophage lambda ("gamma protein") is a specific inhibitor of the recBC enzyme of Escherichia coli [2].
• To prevent recombinants from being formed by the phage red system, these experiments were performed with phages and prophages carrying red and gam mutations [3].

High impact information on gam

• The same plasmid expressed the lambda red and gam genes [4].
• We have isolated a new class of deletion mutants of phage lambda that extend from the prophage attachment site, att, into the gam and cIII genes [5].
• Recombination activity in the cells was assessed by using an assay for homologous recombination between repeats in the chromosome and by measuring the ability of the cells to foster lytic growth by red gam mutant bacteriophage lambda [6].
• Another killing activity was mapped within the p(L) operon to the gam gene [7].
• The old gene product of the P2 prophage interferes with plaque formation by lambda wild type phage but allows lambda phages whose red and gam genes have been deleted to form small, visible plaques (the lambda Spi- phenotype) [8].

Biological context of gam

• Preliminary experiments suggest that these plasmids encode a polypeptide with Gam activity that corresponds to the 98-amino acid "shorter" open reading frame assigned to gam by Sanger et al [9].
• The gam locus of bacteriophage lambda encompasses two coding sequences with the same reading frame and translational stop, one corresponding to an Mr 11646 polypeptide (gamS gene), the other to an Mr 16349 polypeptide (gamL gene) [10].
• The cosmid DNA replication that produces the packaging substrate shares with lambda rolling-circle replication a dependence on the lambda gam gene product [11].
• A plasmid, pgam, has been constructed which expresses the phage lambda gene, gam, under the control of the lambda late promoter, p'R, contained in a form of a p'R-qut-t'R1 module [12].
• To facilitate the detection and molecular analysis of deletion mutations in vivo, we established a transgenic mouse model harboring a lambdaEG10 shuttle vector that includes the red and gam genes for Spi(-) (sensitive to P2 interference) selection [Nohmi et al. (1996] Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 28:465-470] [13].

Associations of gam with chemical compounds

• The establishment of the hyper-rec phenotype requires only a 20 minute IPTG induction period of red and gam [14].

References