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Related Experiment Videos

Membrane Penetration by Bacterial Viruses.

Jingwei Xu1, Ye Xiang2

  • 1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Structural Biology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Journal of Virology
|April 14, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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The bacteriophage ϕ29 uses its tail protein gp9 to form a membrane pore, enabling genome release into Bacillus subtilis. This mechanism may be common in other tailed bacteriophages.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Structural Biology
  • Virology

Background:

  • The bacteriophage ϕ29 infects Bacillus subtilis using a unique short, noncontractile tail structure.
  • The ϕ29 tail protein gp9 is known to form a hexameric tube with internal loops.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the mechanism of genome delivery by the bacteriophage ϕ29 tail.
  • To investigate the role of the ϕ29 tail protein gp9 in membrane penetration and genome passage.

Main Methods:

  • Structural analysis of the bacteriophage ϕ29 tail.
  • Biochemical assays to study protein-gp9 interactions and membrane pore formation.

Main Results:

  • The ϕ29 tail protein gp9 forms a hexameric tube with six long, membrane-active peptide loops.
Keywords:
bacteriophagescryoEMcrystal structuregp9membrane penetrationmembrane-active peptideshort noncontractile tailtail knobϕ29

Related Experiment Videos

  • These loops block the tube until genome release, then exit to form a membrane pore.
  • The pore facilitates the passage of the viral genome into the host cell.

    • Conclusions:

    • The ϕ29 tail employs a novel mechanism involving dynamic peptide loops for host cell membrane penetration.
    • This mechanism of genome delivery via a self-assembling membrane pore may be conserved among tailed bacteriophages.
    • Understanding this process provides insights into viral infection strategies and potential therapeutic targets.