VIROLOGY - MCB 5505

VIRUS FAMILY: MYOVIRIDAE (myo = muscle) - THE T-EVEN PHAGE

I. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
A. LARGE VIRUS WITH DS, LINEAR, CP, TR, DNA
>200 GENES
B. EXTENDED ICOSAHEDRAL HEAD WITH CONTRACTILE TAIL
ASSEMBLY STUDIED IN DETAIL - ASSEMBLY PATHWAYS
C. DNA CONTAINS UNUSUAL BASE - GLYCOSYLATED 5-HMC
MAKES A SET OF BIOSYNTHETIC ENZYMES
D. 8 TRANSFER RNA GENES
E. NEW SIGMA FACTORS
F. OWN DNA POLYMERASE [and many other enzymes]

II. STRUCTURE (for phage T4 [OR T2])

A. SIZE: HEAD: 85 X 110 nm; TAIL: 25 X 110 nm
B. ENVELOPE: NO
C. NUCLEOCAPSID
1. NUCLEIC ACID
a. TYPE: DNA BALTIMORE TYPE: I
b. STRANDED: DS, LINEAR; TERM. REP.(3-5%)
c. POLARITY: +-; CIRCULARLY PERMUTED
d. MOL. WT.: 110.6 mD; 166,000 N (171,000)
e. # GENES: 200 ORFs (130 known genes)
2. GENETIC (PHYSICAL) MAP:

See attached CIRCULAR MAP, Figure 1.

3. CAPSID
a. SYMMETRY: ICOSAHEDRAL; T = 13 laevo, mod.
b. CAPSOMERS:TWO TYPES - HEXONS (11 X 20)
AND PENTONS (12)
c. SIZE: [ABOVE]
d. COMPOSITION - PROTEINS:

60 copies Major Head-PENTON gp24 46 kD

1320 copies Major Head-HEXON gp23 49 kD
1320 copies Hexon Assoc gpsoc 9 kD
220 copies Hexon Assoc gphoc 40 kD
Other Head: gp20, gp21, gp22, gp67, gp68, ETC.

few copies Collar gp13, gp14

few copies Whiskers gpwac
144 copies Tube[24 rings of 6] gp19 20 kD
144 copies Sheath gp18 93 kD
6-12 copies Tail Fibers: gp34, gp35, gp36, gp37
3-24 copies Base plate: 18 different proteins

VIRUS FAMILY: MYOVIRIDAE

 III. CLASSIFICATION AND CHARACTERISTIC MEMBERS

GENERA PROPERTIES MEMBERS

T4-like Phages T2, T4, T6
P1-like Phages P1
P2-like Phages P2
Mu-like Phages Mu
SP01-like Phages SP01
(H-like Phages (H

IV. VIRAL MULTIPLICATION

A. ABSORPTION - Large tail fibers attach at their tips
to diglucosyl residues in the LPS on OM of E. coli.
Attachment activates the baseplate, which is
triggered into the hexagon-star transformation,
which in turn (thru a series of steps) activates
the contratile sheath (Figure 2).
B. PENETRATION - Proteins do not enter, at least the
bulk of the head and tail proteins do not. There
are one or two "pilot proteins"- gp2, gpalt - that
enter with the DNA.
C. UNCOATING - By injection of DNA
D. GENE EXPRESSION - Four major waves of transcription
and protein synthesis occur in the T4 life cycle.
The first (immediate early) is directed by E.
coli’s unaltered RNA polymerase. The delayed early
transcription is due to antitermination of early
transcription. The switch to "middle mode"
requires DNA binding protein(s) of genes motA,B,C
which bind upstream to a new class of promoters.
Late transcription requires a new sigma factor, the
gene 55 protein, which replaces σ70 and recognizes
T4 late promoters, only a -10 of TATAAATA.
E. GENOME REPLICATION - DNA replicates first by
circularization, using the terminally redudant
ends. The DNA replicates several times by circular
bidirectional replication, and then produces ds
concatemers by a modified rolling circle method of
DNA replication, that depend upon recombination
proteins. DNA is packaged by a "head full"
mechanism which leads to CP and TR.
F. ASSEMBLY - Studied in great detail. There are
distinct pathways for head, tail, baseplate and
fiber assembly. Many proteins are involved, some
are scaffolds (and jigs or templates) and some have
protease activity that assist in assembly. See
Figure 3.

Figure 1.
Figure 2.

Figure 3.