Bacteriophage N3 of Haemophilus influenzae. II. Infection of transformable cells by bacteriophage DNA.

Transfection of H. influenzae with N3 bacteriophage DNA shows a dependence on concentration of DNA and a sigmoidal shape of uptake of DNA. The efficiency of transfection is decreased in the two types of recombination-defective strains of H. influenzae; rec1- and rec2-. The fact that N3 bacteriophage can code for its own recombination system but transfection is dependent on host recombation system allows the conclusion that the primary recombination during transfection with N3 phage DNA is mediated exclusively by the bacterial recombination system.