Interactions between the maturation protein gp17 and the single-stranded DNA binding protein gp32 initiate DNA packaging and compete with initiation of secondary DNA replication forks in phage T4.

Since T4 DNA, which is being packaged is actively replicating and recombining, we have asked whether replication and recombination proteins interact with maturation proteins. We report here on genetic evidence for interaction of the single-stranded DNA binding protein gp32 with the maturation protein gp17. Based on these and other results we suggest a model in which DNA packaging is initiated from recombinational intermediates.U