Migration électrophorétique et synthèse des protéines de maturation du bactériophage lambda

Using acrylamide gel-electrophoresis, we have started a systematic study of bacteriophage lambda structural proteins. This study has shown that at least six molecular species exist which are present in very different amounts. Differences of the same order can be recorded in lysates obtained from λ-induced lysogens. Our results show that the main structural proteins are synthesized simultaneously, at rates which are in the same ratio as the corresponding amounts in the viral particle. These findings seem to imply that the synthesis of the structural proteins of bacteriophage λ is under a regulation control. The nature of such a control system is as yet unclear.