Filamentous bacterial viruses. VI. Role of fd gene 2 in deoxyribonucleic acid replication.

Functional gene 2 product was found to be necessary for fd deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis throughout the life cycle of the virus. Bacteria which had been infected with a temperature-sensitive gene 2 mutant ceased to make virus-specific DNA when transferred to restrictive conditions at any time after infection, although current rounds of replication were completed.