Comparison of the structural and chemical composition of giant T‐even phage heads
- 1 January 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Supramolecular Structure
- Vol. 5 (4), 475-495
- https://doi.org/10.1002/jss.400050406
Abstract
A study has been made of the structure of the capsids of T4D giant phage produced from mutants in gene 23 and temperature‐sensitive mutants in gene 24, and T4D and T2L giant phage formed by the addition of L‐canavanine followed by an L‐arginine chase in the growth medium. All the giant phage capsids have been shown to be built according to the same geometrical architecture. This consists of a near‐hexsagonal surface net, lattice constant 129.5 Å, folded into a left‐hand T = 13 prolate icosahedron elongated along one of its fivefold symmetry axes. Their only apparent difference from wild‐type T‐even phage capsids is their abnormally elongated tubular part. A comparison of the capsomere morphologies and protein compositions of the giant phage capsids showed that all T4D giants are indentical but differ from T2L: The T4D capsomere has a complex (6+6+1)‐type morphology, whereas the T2L has a simple 6‐type. T2L phage, however, lack two capsid proteins, “soc” and “hoc”, present in T4D. The difference in capsomere morphology can therefore be related to the difference in the protein compositions of these two phage. Possible differences between the initiation and means of length regulation of giant phage heads and the aberrant polyheads are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- Structure of T4 polyheadsJournal of Molecular Biology, 1976
- Properties and structure of a gene 24-controlled T4 giant phageJournal of Molecular Biology, 1976
- Head length determination in bacteriophage T4: The role of the core protein P22Journal of Molecular Biology, 1976
- Capsid geometry of bacteriophage T2: a freeze-etching studyJournal of Molecular Biology, 1975
- Bacteriophage T4 mutants deficient in alteration and modification of the Escherichia coli RNA polymeraseJournal of Molecular Biology, 1974
- Control by bacteriophage T4 of two sequential phosphorylations of the alpha subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymeraseJournal of Molecular Biology, 1974
- Structure and protein distribution for the capsid of Caulobacter crescentus bacteriophage φCbKJournal of Molecular Biology, 1974
- Abortive bacteriophage T4 head assembly in mutants of Escherichia coliJournal of Molecular Biology, 1973
- Internal proteins of bacteriophage T4D: Their characterization and relation to head structure and assemblyJournal of Molecular Biology, 1971
- Cleavage of Structural Proteins during the Assembly of the Head of Bacteriophage T4Nature, 1970