Enterobacteria phage T4
Encyclopedia
Enterobacteria phage T4 is a bacteriophage
that infects E. coli bacteria. Its DNA
is 169–170 kbp
long, and is held in an icosahedral head. T4 is a relatively large phage, at approximately 90 nm wide and 200 nm long (most phages range from 25 to 200 nm in length). Its tail fibres allow attachment to a host cell, and the T4’s tail is hollow so that it can pass its nucleic acid to the cell it is infecting during attachment. T4 is only capable of undergoing a lytic lifecycle and not the lysogenic lifecycle
.
(from entering a bacterium to its destruction) takes approximately 30 minutes (at 37 °C) and consists of:
After the life cycle is complete, the host cell bursts open
and ejects the newly built viruses into the environment, destroying the host cell. T4 has a burst size of approximately 100-150 viral particles per infected host. Complementation, deletion and recombination tests can be used to map out the rII gene locus by using T4. These bacteriophage infect a host cell with their information and then blow up the host cell, thereby propagating themselves.
In addition, a number of Nobel Prize
winners worked with phage T4 or T4-like phages including Max Delbrück
, Salvador Luria, Alfred Hershey
, James D. Watson
, and Francis Crick
. Other important scientists who worked with phage T4 include Michael Rossmann, Seymour Benzer
, Bruce Alberts
, Gisela Mosig, Richard Lenski
, and James Bull. Click here for a more-complete list of phage workers.
Bacteriophage
A bacteriophage is any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria. They do this by injecting genetic material, which they carry enclosed in an outer protein capsid...
that infects E. coli bacteria. Its DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
is 169–170 kbp
Base pair
In molecular biology and genetics, the linking between two nitrogenous bases on opposite complementary DNA or certain types of RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds is called a base pair...
long, and is held in an icosahedral head. T4 is a relatively large phage, at approximately 90 nm wide and 200 nm long (most phages range from 25 to 200 nm in length). Its tail fibres allow attachment to a host cell, and the T4’s tail is hollow so that it can pass its nucleic acid to the cell it is infecting during attachment. T4 is only capable of undergoing a lytic lifecycle and not the lysogenic lifecycle
Lysogeny
Lysogeny, or the lysogenic cycle, is one of two methods of viral reproduction . Lysogeny is characterized by integration of the bacteriophage nucleic acid into the host bacterium's genome...
.
Tail fibers
Tail fibers participate in the reversible bonding of the phage to the cellular surface of the bacteria. They are also important in recognizing the receptors and if the bacterium fits in the host range.Infection process
The T4 Phage initiates infection of an E. coli bacterium by recognizing cell surface receptors of the host with its long tail fibers (LTF). A recognition signal is sent through the LTFs to the baseplate. This unravels the short tail fibers (STF) that bind irreversibly to the E. coli cell surface. The baseplate changes conformation and the tail sheath contracts causing GP5 at the end of the tail tube to puncture the outer membrane of the cell. The lysozyme domain of GP5 is activated and degrades the periplasmic peptidoglycan layer. The remaining part of the membrane is degraded and, DNA from the head of the Phage can travel through the tail tube and enter the E. coli.Life cycle
The lytic lifecycleLytic cycle
The lytic cycle is one of the two cycles of viral reproduction, the other being the lysogenic cycle. The lytic cycle is typically considered the main method of viral replication, since it results in the destruction of the infected cell...
(from entering a bacterium to its destruction) takes approximately 30 minutes (at 37 °C) and consists of:
- AdsorptionAdsorptionAdsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, biomolecules or molecules of gas, liquid, or dissolved solids to a surface. This process creates a film of the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent. It differs from absorption, in which a fluid permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid...
and penetration (starting immediately) - Arrest of host gene expressionGene expressionGene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
(starting immediately) - EnzymeEnzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
synthesis (starting after 5 minutes) - DNA replicationDNA replicationDNA replication is a biological process that occurs in all living organisms and copies their DNA; it is the basis for biological inheritance. The process starts with one double-stranded DNA molecule and produces two identical copies of the molecule...
(starting after 10 minutes) - Formation of new virusVirusA virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
particles (starting after 12 minutes)
After the life cycle is complete, the host cell bursts open
Lysis
Lysis refers to the breaking down of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a "lysate"....
and ejects the newly built viruses into the environment, destroying the host cell. T4 has a burst size of approximately 100-150 viral particles per infected host. Complementation, deletion and recombination tests can be used to map out the rII gene locus by using T4. These bacteriophage infect a host cell with their information and then blow up the host cell, thereby propagating themselves.
Features
The T4 phage has some unique features, such as:- EukaryoteEukaryoteA eukaryote is an organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. Eukaryotes may more formally be referred to as the taxon Eukarya or Eukaryota. The defining membrane-bound structure that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells is the nucleus, or nuclear...
-like intronIntronAn intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is removed by RNA splicing to generate the final mature RNA product of a gene. The term intron refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene, and the corresponding sequence in RNA transcripts. Sequences that are joined together in the final...
s - High speed DNA copying mechanism, with only 1 error in 300 copies
- Special DNA repairDNA repairDNA repair refers to a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as UV light and radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in as many as 1...
mechanisms - It infects E. coli O157:H7Escherichia coli O157:H7Escherichia coli O157:H7 is an enterohemorrhagic strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli and a cause of foodborne illness. Infection often leads to hemorrhagic diarrhea, and occasionally to kidney failure, especially in young children and elderly persons...
- genome terminally redundant
- genome first replicated as a unit, and then several genomic units are recombined end-to-end to form a concatemer. When packaged, the concatemer is cut at unspecific positions but of same length, leading to several genomes that represent Circular permutations of the original.
In addition, a number of Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners worked with phage T4 or T4-like phages including Max Delbrück
Max Delbrück
Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück was a German-American biophysicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Delbrück was born in Berlin, German Empire...
, Salvador Luria, Alfred Hershey
Alfred Hershey
Alfred Day Hershey was an American Nobel Prize-winning bacteriologist and geneticist.He was born in Owosso, Michigan and received his B.S. in chemistry at Michigan State University in 1930 and his Ph.D. in bacteriology in 1934, taking a position shortly thereafter at the Department of Bacteriology...
, James D. Watson
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
, and Francis Crick
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
. Other important scientists who worked with phage T4 include Michael Rossmann, Seymour Benzer
Seymour Benzer
Seymour Benzer was an American physicist, molecular biologist and behavioral geneticist. His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a productive genetics research lab both at...
, Bruce Alberts
Bruce Alberts
Bruce Michael Alberts is an American biochemist known for his work in science public policy and as an original author of the Molecular Biology of the Cell...
, Gisela Mosig, Richard Lenski
Richard Lenski
Richard E. Lenski is an American evolutionary biologist. He is the son of sociologist Gerhard Lenski. He earned his BA from Oberlin College in 1976, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina in 1982...
, and James Bull. Click here for a more-complete list of phage workers.