Structural morphing in the viral portal vertex of bacteriophage lambda.

ABSTRACT: The portal protein of tailed bacteriophage plays essential roles in various aspects of capsid assembly, motor assembly, genome packaging, connector formation, and infection processes. After DNA packaging is complete, additional proteins are assembled onto the portal to form the connector complex, which is crucial as it bridges the mature head and tail. In this study, we report high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of the portal vertex from bacteriophage lambda in both its prohead and mature virion states. Comparison of these structures shows that during head maturation, in addition to capsid expansion, the portal protein undergoes conformational changes to establish interactions with the connector proteins. Additionally, the independently assembled tail undergoes mo

SUBMITTER: Gu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11092355 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature