2xd8

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Podovirus P-SSP7 infects Prochlorococcus marinus, the most abundant oceanic photosynthetic microorganism. Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy yields icosahedral and asymmetrical structures of infectious P-SSP7 with 4.6-A and 9-A resolution, respectively. The asymmetric reconstruction reveals how symmetry mismatches are accommodated among five of the gene products at the portal vertex. Reconstructions of infectious and empty particles show a conformational change of the 'valve' density in the nozzle, an orientation difference in the tail fibers, a disordering of the C terminus of the portal protein and the disappearance of the core proteins. In addition, cryo-electron tomography of P-SSP7 infecting Prochlorococcus showed the same tail-fiber conformation as that in empty particles. Our observations suggest a mechanism whereby, upon binding to the host cell, the tail fibers induce a cascade of structural alterations of the portal vertex complex that triggers DNA release.

Structural changes in a marine podovirus associated with release of its genome into Prochlorococcus.,Liu X, Zhang Q, Murata K, Baker ML, Sullivan MB, Fu C, Dougherty MT, Schmid MF, Osburne MS, Chisholm SW, Chiu W Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2010 Jul;17(7):830-6. Epub 2010 Jun 13. PMID:20543830^[1]

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