[Proteins of the basal plate of bacteriophage T4 participating in the contractile impulse]

Reversible linking of proteins with Cu2+ and Ni2+ ions was used to study the topography of the structural proteins of bacteriophage T4 basal plate. Gene products (GP) 9 and 10 were found to directly contact the proximal part of long fibrils (GP34). GP27, GP54 and GP5 interact with the lower disk of the contractive sheath (GP18), while GP48 and GP54 are in contact with the core (GP19). The proteins of the sheath (GP18) and the core (GP19) were found to have contact over the whole tail length.