Molecular and Environmental Plant Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; Center for Phage Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Virology. 2019 Jan 15;527:57-63. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2018.11.005. Epub 2018 Nov 18.
Bacteriophage λ has served as an important model for molecular biology and different cellular processes over the past few decades. In 1992, the phage strain used in most laboratories around the world, thought of as λ wild type, was discovered to carry a mutation in the stf gene which encodes four side tail fibers. Up to now, the role of the side tail fibers during the infection cycle, especially at the single-cell level, remains largely unknown. Here we utilized fluorescent reporter systems to characterize the effect of the side tail fibers on phage infection. We found that the side tail fibers interfere with phage DNA ejection process, most likely through the binding with their receptors, OmpC, leading to a more frequent failed infection. However, the side tail fibers do not seem to affect the lysis-lysogeny decision-making or lysis time.
噬菌体 λ 在过去几十年中一直是分子生物学和不同细胞过程的重要模型。1992 年，在世界上大多数实验室中使用的噬菌体菌株被发现携带一个突变，该突变位于编码四个侧尾纤维的 stf 基因中。到目前为止，侧尾纤维在感染周期中的作用，特别是在单细胞水平上，仍然很大程度上未知。在这里，我们利用荧光报告系统来描述侧尾纤维对噬菌体感染的影响。我们发现侧尾纤维干扰噬菌体 DNA 排出过程，很可能是通过与它们的受体 OmpC 结合，导致更频繁的感染失败。然而，侧尾纤维似乎并不影响裂解-溶原决策或裂解时间。
