Tail proteins of phage SU10 reorganize into the nozzle for genome delivery

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Authors

ŠIBOROVÁ Marta FÜZIK Tibor PROCHÁZKOVÁ Michaela NOVÁČEK Jiří BENEŠÍK Martin NILSSON Anders S PLEVKA Pavel

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Nature Communications
MU Faculty or unit

Central European Institute of Technology

Citation
Web https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33305-w
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33305-w
Keywords Bacteriophages; DNA; Viral; Genome; Phosmet; Podoviridae
Attached files
Description E. coli phage SU10 has a short non-contractile tail. Here, the authors show that after cell binding, nozzle proteins and tail fibers of SU10 change conformation to form a nozzle that enables the delivery of the phage DNA into the bacterial cytoplasm. Escherichia coli phage SU10 belongs to the genus Kuravirus from the class Caudoviricetes of phages with short non-contractile tails. In contrast to other short-tailed phages, the tails of Kuraviruses elongate upon cell attachment. Here we show that the virion of SU10 has a prolate head, containing genome and ejection proteins, and a tail, which is formed of portal, adaptor, nozzle, and tail needle proteins and decorated with long and short fibers. The binding of the long tail fibers to the receptors in the outer bacterial membrane induces the straightening of nozzle proteins and rotation of short tail fibers. After the re-arrangement, the nozzle proteins and short tail fibers alternate to form a nozzle that extends the tail by 28 nm. Subsequently, the tail needle detaches from the nozzle proteins and five types of ejection proteins are released from the SU10 head. The nozzle with the putative extension formed by the ejection proteins enables the delivery of the SU10 genome into the bacterial cytoplasm. It is likely that this mechanism of genome delivery, involving the formation of the tail nozzle, is employed by all Kuraviruses.
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