Gene D5 is not only necessary for replication of bacteriophage T5 DNA and for shutoff of expression of some early genes, but has been found to be necessary also for the expression of late T5 genes. The polypeptide product of gene D5 has been identified, an intragenic map of gene D5 has been constructed, and the direction of transcription of gene D5 has been established. The polypeptide coded by gene D5 has been shown to be a DNA-binding protein with affinity for both double- and single-stranded DNA.