Effect of thermoinduced changes in T4 bacteriophage structure on the process of molecular recognition of 'host' cells.

By means of high-precision acoustic measurements and by methods of fluorescent and electron microscopy, investigations have been performed of thermoinduced conformational changes in T4 bacteriophage and its thermolabile mutants altered in baseplate proteins (gene products 7, 8, 10). A relationship was found between the conformational changes in T4 bacteriophage structure in the temperature range of 33-45 degrees C and the efficiency of bacteriophage adsorption and the changes in the orientation of long tail fibers. The possibility of heat regulation of 'recognition' of 'host' cells by bacterial viruses is suggested.