Genetic recombination in bacteriophage lambda

Abstract

Bacteriophage (lambda) infects Escherichia coli and induces a dramatically increased rate and altered profile of genetic recombination as part of the cycle of infection. The genetic recombination processes augment the host-encoded recombination proteins with phage-encoded recombination proteins, promoting particular recombination pathways. This review characterizes the protein machinery involved in the most important processes underlying -mediated genetic recombination. © 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press.