Isolation of mutants in M13 coat protein that affect its synthesis, processing, and assembly into phage.

The major coat protein (gene 8 protein) of bacteriophage M13 has been studied intensively as a model of membrane assembly, protein packing, and protein-DNA interactions. Because this protein is essential for assembly of the phage, very few mutants have been isolated. We have therefore cloned the gene 8 into a plasmid under control of the araB promoter. In the presence of arabinose, the cloned gene is expressed at a rate comparable to that in an M13-infected cell. Plasmid-derived procoat is inserted across the plasma membrane and processed to coat at a normal rate. The coat can support plaque formation by a defective M13 virus (M13am8) with an amber mutation in its procoat gene. This complementation assay was used to screen the mutagenized, cloned gene 8 for mutants which fail to make fully functional coat. Mutants were obtained which fail to synthesize procoat, which do not convert procoat to mature coat protein, or in which the coat protein is incapable of assembling into infectious virions.