The short tail-fiber of bacteriophage T4: molecular structure and a mechanism for its conformational transition

Electron microscopy, image processing and computational sequence analysis were used to investigate the structure of the short tail-fiber of bacteriophage T4. This molecule, an oligomer of gp12, is an adhesin that binds the virion irreversibly to the bacterial surface. Short tail-fibers were isolated from mutant-infected cells in which gp12 is synthesized and assembled correctly, but not incorporated into virions. Visualized in negative stain, these filamentous molecules are approximately 38 nm in total length, with an arrowhead-shaped head (approximately 10 nm long by 6 nm wide), a 24-nm shaft of uniform width (approximately 3.8 nm), and a small, seemingly flexible, tail. The primary sequence contains a domain consisting of tandem quasi-repeats, each about 40 residues long, extending from approximately residue 50 to residue 320. Molecular mass analyses by scanning transmission electron microscopy confirm that the molecule is a trimer. The masses of the head, shaft, and tail domains are consistent with (trimers of) the carboxy-terminus, the repeat region, and the amino-terminus, respectively. When short tail-fibers are visualized extending from baseplates, their heads are distal, i.e., detached, implying that it is the tail that remains in contact with the baseplate. Analysis of the molecules' curvature properties detects three hinge-sites: these suggest how the short tail-fiber may be initially accommodated in a compact conformation in the "hexagon" state of the baseplate, from which it converts to the extended conformation when the baseplate switches into its "star" state.