Structural highlights
FunctionFIBER_LAMBD Forms tail fibers that play a role in primary attachment of virion to host receptors. Assembles with Tail fiber assembly protein to form fibers attached to virion tail tip. Fibers are about 35nm long and have a thin, uniform diameter. There are presumaby six fibers per virion. They bind in a reversible manner to host molecules, attaching transiently the virion to the host until tail tip interacts with LamB and injects viral DNA into the cell. Publication Abstract from PubMedBacteriophages must recognize host receptors and penetrate the host cell envelope to initiate infection. How the classic phage lambda initiates infection is not yet understood. Here, we combine cryo-electron microscopy and tomography to visualize infection initiation by Ur-lambda, the original lambda isolate that uses side fibers to adsorb rapidly to Escherichia coli. We determine the structure of Ur-lambda, resolving the full-length central and side fibers, thus providing a structural basis for host recognition. We show that Ur-lambda contains six copies of its tape measure protein. We capture intermediates of the tail tip complex during infection initiation, revealing how extensive conformational changes enable adsorption, and visualize the trans-envelope channel required for genome ejection. Structural basis of bacteriophage Ur-lambda infection initiation.,Yu H, Wang C, Yue J, Guo W, Molineux IJ, Liu J Sci Adv. 2025 Nov 14;11(46):eadw7914. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw7914. Epub 2025 Nov , 14. PMID:41237242[1] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. References
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