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Publication Abstract from PubMed

The Klebsiella jumbo myophage varphiKp24 displays an unusually complex arrangement of tail fibers interacting with a host cell. In this study, we combine cryo-electron microscopy methods, protein structure prediction methods, molecular simulations, microbiological and machine learning approaches to explore the capsid, tail, and tail fibers of varphiKp24. We determine the structure of the capsid and tail at 4.1 A and 3.0 A resolution. We observe the tail fibers are branched and rearranged dramatically upon cell surface attachment. This complex configuration involves fourteen putative tail fibers with depolymerase activity that provide varphiKp24 with the ability to infect a broad panel of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) types of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our study provides structural and functional insight into how varphiKp24 adapts to the variable surfaces of capsulated bacterial pathogens, which is useful for the development of phage therapy approaches against pan-drug resistant K. pneumoniae strains.

High-resolution reconstruction of a Jumbo-bacteriophage infecting capsulated bacteria using hyperbranched tail fibers.,Ouyang R, Costa AR, Cassidy CK, Otwinowska A, Williams VCJ, Latka A, Stansfeld PJ, Drulis-Kawa Z, Briers Y, Pelt DM, Brouns SJJ, Briegel A Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 24;13(1):7241. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34972-5. PMID:36433970^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.