Bacteriophage structure: determination of head-tail symmetry mismatch for Caulobacter crescentus phage phiCbK.

Electron micrographs of negatively stained bacteriophage [unknown]CbK have been analyzed by Fourier methods. Computer-calculated Fourier transforms that contain phase as well as magnitude information have established fivefold rotational symmetry for the head and threefold rotational symmetry for the tail. These results indicate that a symmetry match is not necessarily required between separate structural components of a bacteriophage.