The Bacteriophage T4 MotB Protein, a DNA-Binding Protein, Improves Phage Fitness.

ABSTRACT: The lytic bacteriophage T4 employs multiple phage-encoded early proteins to takeover the Escherichia coli host. However, the functions of many of these proteins are not known. In this study, we have characterized the T4 early gene motB, located in a dispensable region of the T4 genome. We show that heterologous production of MotB is highly toxic to E. coli, resulting in cell death or growth arrest depending on the strain and that the presence of motB increases T4 burst size 2-fold. Previous work suggested that motB affects middle gene expression, but our transcriptome analyses of T4 motB^am vs. T4 wt infections reveal that only a few late genes are mildly impaired at 5 min post-infection, and expression of early and middle genes is unaffe

SUBMITTER: Patterson-West J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6070864 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature