Cryo-electron microscopy of the f1 filamentous phage reveals insights into viral infection and assembly

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37915-w

Authors: Rebecca Conners (University of Exeter) , Rayén Ignacia León-Quezada (Massey University; Nanophage Technologies) , Mathew Mclaren (University of Exeter) , Nicholas J. Bennett (Massey University) , Bertram Daum (University of Exeter) , Jasna Rakonjac (Massey University; Nanophage Technologies) , Vicki Gold (University of Exeter)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nature Communications , VOL 14

State: Published (Approved)
Published: May 2023
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 25452

Abstract: Phages are viruses that infect bacteria and dominate every ecosystem on our planet. As well as impacting microbial ecology, physiology and evolution, phages are exploited as tools in molecular biology and biotechnology. This is particularly true for the Ff (f1, fd or M13) phages, which represent a widely distributed group of filamentous viruses. Over nearly five decades, Ffs have seen an extraordinary range of applications, yet the complete structure of the phage capsid and consequently the mechanisms of infection and assembly remain largely mysterious. In this work, we use cryo-electron microscopy and a highly efficient system for production of short Ff-derived nanorods to determine a structure of a filamentous virus including the tips. We show that structure combined with mutagenesis can identify phage domains that are important in bacterial attack and for release of new progeny, allowing new models to be proposed for the phage lifecycle.

Diamond Keywords: Bacteriophages; Viruses

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials

Diamond Offline Facilities: Electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC)
Instruments: Krios II-Titan Krios II at Diamond

Added On: 19/05/2023 22:36

Documents:
s41467-023-37915-w.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Biotechnology Structural biology Engineering & Technology Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Microscopy Electron Microscopy (EM) Cryo Electron Microscopy (Cryo EM)