Structural overview of the T4 phage

Enterobacteria phage T4 is a phage that infects E. coli bacteria. Its DNA is 169-170 kbp long; one of the longest DNAs in phages, and is held in an icosahedral head. T4 is also one of the largest phages, 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 life cycle. Virus classification involves naming and placing viruses into a taxonomic system. ... A DNA virus is a virus that has DNA as its genetic material and does not use an RNA intermediate during replication. ... Families Myoviridae Podoviridae Siphoviridae The Caudovirales are an order of viruses, comprising the bacteriophages that have tails. ... Genera T4-like viruses P1-like viruses P2-like viruses Mu-like viruses SPO1-like viruses φH-like viruses The Myoviridae are a family of bacteriophages, including the following genera: Genus T4-like viruses; type species: Enterobacteria phage T4, others include Enterobacteria phage T2 Genus P1-like viruses; type... Image File history File links Tevenphage. ... Image File history File links Tevenphage. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Binomial name Escherichia coli T. Escherich, 1885 Escherichia coli (usually abbreviated to E. coli) is one of the main species of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of warm-blooded animals (including birds and mammals) and are necessary for the proper digestion of food. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living organisms. ... Base pairs, of a DNA molecule. ... NM may stand for: Neurofiber Mitosis, a nerve disease, sometimes confused with Neurofibromatosis nm (Unix), a computer program Nautical mile (nm) New Mexico (NM) Newton metre (N m or N·m), a unit of moment Nanometre (nm, 10-9 m), a thousand-millionth of a metre Never mind or not... The lytic cycle is one of the two cycles of viral reproduction, the other being the lysogenic cycle. ... It has been suggested that Lysogenic cycle be merged into this article or section. ...

Lifecycle

The lytic lifecycle (from entering a bacterium to its destruction) takes approximately 30 minutes (at 37 °C) and consists of: The lytic cycle is one of the two cycles of viral reproduction, the other being the lysogenic cycle. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ...

• Adsorption and penetration (starting immediately)
• Arrest of host gene expression (starting immediately)
• Enzyme synthesis (starting after 5 minutes)
• DNA replication (starting after 10 minutes)
• Formation of new virus particles (starting after 12 minutes)

After the lifecycle is complete the host cell bursts open and ejects the newly built viruses into the environment, at which point the host cell is destroyed. Adsorption is a process that occurs when a gas or liquid or solute (called adsorbate) accumulates on the surface of a solid or more rarely a liquid (adsorbent), forming a molecular or atomic film (adsorbate). ... Gene expression, or simply expression, is the process by which a genes DNA sequence is converted into the structures and functions of a cell. ... Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM, surrounded by the space-filling model of the protein. ... It has been suggested that DNA replicate, Replisome, Replication fork, Lagging strand, Leading strand be merged into this article or section. ... Groups I: dsDNA viruses II: ssDNA viruses III: dsRNA viruses IV: (+)ssRNA viruses V: (-)ssRNA viruses VI: ssRNA-RT viruses VII: dsDNA-RT viruses A virus (from the Latin noun virus, meaning toxin or poison) is a microscopic particle (ranging in size from 20 - 300 nm) that can infect the... Lysis (Greek lusis from luein = to separate) refers to the death of a cell by bursting, often by viral or osmotic mechanisms that compromise the integrity of the cellular membrane. ...

Interesting features

The T4 phage has some unique features, such as:

• Eukaryote-like introns
• High speed DNA copying mechanism, with only 1 error in 300 copies
• Special DNA repair mechanisms
• It infects E. coli O157:H7^{[citation needed]}

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 Seymour Benzer, Bruce Alberts, Gisela Mosig, Richard Lenski, and James Bull. Click here for a more-complete list of phage workers. Kingdoms Animalia - Animals Fungi Plantae - Plants Protista Alternative Phylogeny Unikonta    Opisthokonta    Amoebozoa Bikonta    Apusozoa    Cabozoa       Rhizaria       Excavata    Corticata       Archaeplastida       Chromalveolata Animals, plants, fungi, and protists are eukaryotes (IPA: ), organisms with a complex cell or cells, where the genetic material is organized into a membrane-bound nucleus or nuclei. ... Diagram of the location of introns and exons within a gene. ... DNA damage resulting in multiple broken chromosomes DNA repair refers to a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. ... Escherichia coli O157:H7 is an emerging cause of foodborne illness. ... The Nobel Prizes (Swedish: ) are awards in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physiology or Medicine and Economics. ... Max Delbrück (September 4, 1906 - March 9, 1981) was a German biologist. ... Salvador Edward Luria (August 13, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American microbiologist whose pioneering work on phages helped open up molecular biology. ... Alfred Day Hershey (December 4, 1908 – May 22, 1997) was an American Nobel Prize-winning bacteriologist. ... Sir James Dewey Watson KBE(Hon) ForMemRS (born April 6, 1928) is an American scientist, best known as one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. ... Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, who is most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ... Seymour Benzer (born October 15, 1921) is an accomplished American physicist and biologist. ... Dr. Bruce Alberts (b. ... Richard E. Lenski (born August 13, 1956) is an American evolutionary biologist. ... Professor James J. Bull is currently Johann Friedrich Miescher Regents Professor in Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. ...

References to T4-like phages

The following are key references for individuals involved in T4-like phage isolation and characterization. Instructions for adding or editing references can be found here. A large literature on T4-phage, especially molecular characterization also exists but is not directly addressed in this list; entrance to that literature can be found via a number of the reviews of phage T4 biology listed below. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

• Karam, J., Petrov, V., Nolan, J., Chin, D., Shatley, C., Krisch, H., and Letarov, A. The T4-like phages genome project. http://phage.bioc.tulane.edu/. (the T4-like phage full genomic sequence depository)
• Mosig, G., and F. Eiserling. 2006. T4 and related phages: structure and development, R. Calendar and S. T. Abedon (eds.), The Bacteriophages. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (review of phage T4 biology) ISBN 0-19-514850-9
• Filee, J., F. Tetart, C. A. Suttle, and H. M. Krisch. 2005. Marine T4-type bacteriophages, a ubiquitous component of the dark matter of the biosphere. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:12471-12476. (indication of prevalence and T4-like phages in the wild) full text
• Chibani-Chennoufi, S., C. Canchaya, A. Bruttin, and H. Brussow. 2004. Comparative genomics of the T4-Like Escherichia coli phage JS98: implications for the evolution of T4 phages. J. Bacteriol. 186:8276-8286. (characterization of a T4-like phage) full text
• Desplats, C., and H. M. Krisch. 2003. The diversity and evolution of the T4-type bacteriophages. Res. Microbiol. 154:259-267. (characterization of T4-like phages) abstract & pay article
• Miller, E. S., E. Kutter, G. Mosig, F. Arisaka, T. Kunisawa, and W. Ruger. 2003. Bacteriophage T4 genome. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 67:86-156. (review of phage T4, from the perspective of its genome) full text
• Desplats, C., C. Dez, F. Tetart, H. Eleaume, and H. M. Krisch. 2002. Snapshot of the genome of the pseudo-T-even bacteriophage RB49. J. Bacteriol. 184:2789-2804. (overview of the RB49 genome, a T4-like phage) full text
• Tétart, F., C. Desplats, M. Kutateladze, C. Monod, H.-W. Ackermann, and H. M. Krisch. 2001. Phylogeny of the major head and tail genes of the wide-ranging T4-type bacteriophages. J. Bacteriol. 183:358-366. (indication of the prevalence of T4-type sequences in the wild) full text
• Abedon, S. T. 2000. The murky origin of Snow White and her T-even dwarfs. Genetics 155:481-486. (historical description of the isolation of the T4-like phages T2, T4, and T6) full text
• Ackermann, H.-W., and H. M. Krisch. 1997. A catalogue of T4-type bacteriophages. Arch Virol 142:2329-2345. (nearly complete list of then-known T4-like phages) abstract & pay article
• Monod, C., F. Repoila, M. Kutateladze, F. Tétart, and H. M. Krisch. 1997. The genome of the pseudo T-even bacteriophages, a diverse group that resembles T4. J. Mol. Biol. 267:237-249. (overview of various T4-like phages from the perspective of their genomes) abstract & pay article
• Kutter, E., K. Gachechiladze, A. Poglazov, E. Marusich, M. Shneider, P. Aronsson, A. Napuli, D. Porter, and V. Mesyanzhinov. 1995. Evolution of T4-related phages. Virus Genes 11:285-297. (comparison of the genomes of various T4-like phages) abstract & pay article
• Karam, J. D. et al. 1994. Molecular Biology of Bacteriophage T4. ASM Press, Washington, DC. (the second T4 bible, go here, as well as Mosig and Eiserling, 2006, to begin to learn about the biology T4 phage) ISBN 1-55581-064-0
• Eddy, S. R. 1992. Introns in the T-Even Bacteriophages. Ph.D. thesis. University of Colorado at Boulder. (chapter 3 provides overview of various T4-like phages as well as the isolation of then-new T4-like phages)
• Mathews, C. K., E. M. Kutter, G. Mosig, and P. B. Berget. 1983. Bacteriophage T4. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC. (the first T4 bible; not all information here is duplicated in Karam et al., 1994; see especially the introductory chapter by Doermann for a historical overview of the T4-like phages) ISBN 0-914826-56-5
• Russell, R. L. 1967. Speciation Among the T-Even Bacteriophages. Ph.D. thesis. California Institute of Technology. (isolation of the RB series of T4-like phages)
• Kay, D., and P. Fildes. 1962. Hydroxymethylcytosine-containing and tryptophan-dependent bacteriophages isolated from city effluents. J. Gen. Microbiol. 27:143-146. (T4-like phage isolation, including that of phage Ox2)