I plan to investigate the membrane-associated assembly of the filamentous phages, a group of viruses that infect cells carrying the F fertility factor. My initial approach has two parts: development of simple assays for the stages of virus assembly, and construction and isolation of viral and host-cell mutants that affect the assembly process, so that the specific step affected can be identified with the stage-specific assays. This work should result in a much clearer picture of the components involved in assembly, and set the stage for a deeper study of the process in vitro. If it turns out to be feasible to assemble infectious viruses from naked DNA in vitro, this might be the basis of a system for cloning very large pieces of foreign DNA. I also plan to study other ways in which knowledge of filamentous phage physiology might be expoited to devise new ways of manipulating and analyzing cloned DNA.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI020564-02
Application #
3130286
Study Section
Microbial Physiology and Genetics Subcommittee 2 (MBC)
Project Start
1984-09-01
Project End
1987-08-31
Budget Start
1985-09-01
Budget End
1986-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1985
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Missouri-Columbia
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
112205955
City
Columbia
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
65211