  We study the control parameters that govern the dynamics of in vitro DNA
ejection in bacteriophage lambda. Past work has demonstrated that bacteriophage
DNA is highly pressurized; this pressure has been hypothesized to help drive
DNA ejection. Ions influence this process by screening charges on DNA; however,
a systematic variation of salt concentrations to explore these effects has not
been undertaken. To study the nature of the forces driving DNA ejection, we
performed in vitro measurements of DNA ejection in bulk and at the single-phage
level. We present measurements on the dynamics of ejection and on the
self-repulsion force driving ejection. We examine the role of ion concentration
and identity in both measurements, and show that the charge of counter-ions is
an important control parameter. These measurements show that the frictional
force acting on the ejecting DNA is subtly dependent on ionic concentrations
for a given amount of DNA in the capsid. We also present evidence that phage
DNA forms loops during ejection; we confirm that this effect occurs using
optical tweezers. We speculate this facilitates circularization of the genome
in the cytoplasm.
