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Abstract

Phage øH, a novel virus of the archaebacterium Halobacterium halobium, resembles in size and morphology two other Halobacterium phages. One‐step growth curves show a 5.5 h eclipse, a latent period of 7 h, and an apparent burst size of 170. Phage øH contains linear, double‐stranded DNA which has a molecular weight of 39 x 10⁶ and a GC content of 65%. A packaging model accounting for the partial circular permutation and terminal redundancy of øH DNA is suggested. Partial homology of øH DNA with the DNA of H. halobium, predominantly with the AT‐rich satellite DNA, was observed. The presence of minor restriction fragments of øH DNA which could be removed by purification of phage from single plaques suggests the existence of phage variants with rearranged DNA. A strain of H. halobium containing øH DNA was isolated which is resistant to infection by phage øH