Imaging the Infection Cycle of T7 at the Single Virion Level.

ABSTRACT: T7 phages are E. coli-infecting viruses that find and invade their target with high specificity and efficiency. The exact molecular mechanisms of the T7 infection cycle are yet unclear. As the infection involves mechanical events, single-particle methods are to be employed to alleviate the problems of ensemble averaging. Here we used TIRF microscopy to uncover the spatial dynamics of the target recognition and binding by individual T7 phage particles. In the initial phase, T7 virions bound reversibly to the bacterial membrane via two-dimensional diffusive exploration. Stable bacteriophage anchoring was achieved by tail-fiber complex to receptor binding which could be observed in detail by atomic force microscopy (AFM) under aqueous buffer conditions. The six anchored fibers of a giv

SUBMITTER: Kiss B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9569847 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature