1. Structure and function of bacteriophage T4
- Author
-
Moh Lan Yap and Michael G. Rossmann
- Subjects
Models, Molecular ,Microbiology (medical) ,Protein Conformation ,Myoviridae ,Genome, Viral ,Prolate spheroid ,Crystallography, X-Ray ,medicine.disease_cause ,Microbiology ,Article ,Bacteriophage ,Genome packaging ,Viral Proteins ,Escherichia coli ,medicine ,Bacteriophage T4 ,biology ,Hexagonal crystal system ,Virus Assembly ,Cryoelectron Microscopy ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Protein Structure, Tertiary ,Structure and function ,Biophysics - Abstract
ABSTRACT Bacteriophage T4 is the most well-studied member of Myoviridae, the most complex family of tailed phages. T4 assembly is divided into three independent pathways: the head, the tail and the long tail fibers. The prolate head encapsidates a 172 kbp concatemeric dsDNA genome. The 925 Å-long tail is surrounded by the contractile sheath and ends with a hexagonal baseplate. Six long tail fibers are attached to the baseplate's periphery and are the host cell's recognition sensors. The sheath and the baseplate undergo large conformational changes during infection. X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy have provided structural information on protein–protein and protein–nucleic acid interactions that regulate conformational changes during assembly and infection of Escherichia coli cells.
- Published
- 2014