Yap Moh Lan, Rossmann Michael G
Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 240 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2032, USA.
Future Microbiol. 2014;9(12):1319-27. doi: 10.2217/fmb.14.91.
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.
噬菌体T4是肌尾噬菌体科研究最为深入的成员,肌尾噬菌体科是尾噬菌体中最为复杂的一个家族。T4噬菌体的组装分为三个独立的途径:头部、尾部和长尾丝。拉长的头部包裹着一个172千碱基对的串联双链DNA基因组。925埃长的尾部被收缩鞘包围,末端是一个六边形基板。六条长尾丝附着在基板的周边,是宿主细胞的识别传感器。在感染过程中,鞘和基板会发生巨大的构象变化。X射线晶体学和冷冻电子显微镜已经提供了有关蛋白质-蛋白质和蛋白质-核酸相互作用的结构信息,这些相互作用在大肠杆菌细胞的组装和感染过程中调节构象变化。