Structure and synthesis of a lipid-containing bacteriophage: VII. Structural proteins of bacteriophage PM2

Abstract

The structural proteins of bacteriophage PM2 were investigated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by gel filtration on 6% agarose. By electrophoresis, four distinct polypeptides were identified and their molecular weights were estimated to be I = 42,700, II = 32,000, III = 12,250, and IV = 7660. By gel filtration in the presence of 6 M guanidine hydrochloride on 6% agarose, the molecular weights were estimated to be 43,000, 35,000, 12,500, and 4650. The percentage of the total protein corresponding to each polypeptide was estimated by gel electrophoresis of dissociated PM2 which had been uniformly labeled with acetate-¹⁴C. The moles of each polypeptide per mole of virion were: I = 90, II = 710, III = 560, and IV = 470.