Virus grows a temporary tube to inject DNA

Prokaryotic viruses have evolved various mechanisms to transport their genomes across bacterial cell walls. Many bacteriophages use a tail to perform this function, whereas tail-less phages rely on host organelles. However, the tail-less, icosahedral, single-stranded DNA ΦX174-like coliphages do not fall into these well-defined infection processes. For these phages, DNA delivery requires a DNA pilot protein.  Here we show that the ΦX174 pilot protein H oligomerizes to form a tube whose function is most probably to deliver the DNA genome across the host’s periplasmic space to the cytoplasm.

Read more:
Icosahedral bacteriophage [Phi]X174 forms a tail for DNA transport during infection 

Source: Nature
Image credits: Nature

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