Isolation of specialized transducing bacteriophage lambda carrying genes of the L-arabinose operon of Escherichia coli B/r.

A heat-inducible lysis-defective phage lambda (lambdacI857S7) has been integrated at multiple sites within the L-arabinose region (araCOIBAD) of a strain of Escherichia coli K-12 deleted for the normal lambda attachment site (lambdaattdelta). The lambda phage has become integrated with opposite orientations at two different loci within the aratb gene and with the "normal" orientation (clockwise N-RA-J) at a single site in the araC gene. The burst size, spontaneous-curing frequencies, and number of prophage harbored by each of the ara secondary-site lysogens have been determined. From these secondary-site lysogens it has been possible to generate plaque-forming ara-transducing phage (lambdapara) and defective ara-transducing phage (lambdadara), as well as defective leucine-transducing particles (lambdadleu). The construction and characterization of these lambdaara-transducing phage and their derivatives which carry genetically defined portions of the L-arabinose region are presented.