Structure and transformation of bacteriophage A511 baseplate and tail upon infection of Listeria cells.

ABSTRACT: Contractile injection systems (bacteriophage tails, type VI secretions system, R-type pyocins, etc.) utilize a rigid tube/contractile sheath assembly for breaching the envelope of bacterial and eukaryotic cells. Among contractile injection systems, bacteriophages that infect Gram-positive bacteria represent the least understood members. Here, we describe the structure of Listeria bacteriophage A511 tail in its pre- and post-host attachment states (extended and contracted, respectively) using cryo-electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography, and X-ray crystallography. We show that the structure of the tube-baseplate complex of A511 is similar to that of phage T4, but the A511 baseplate is decorated with different receptor-binding proteins, which undergo a large structural transform

SUBMITTER: Guerrero-Ferreira RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6356063 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature