Download MendeleyA conserved infection pathway for filamentous bacteriophages is suggested by the structure of the membrane penetration domain of the minor coat protein g3p from phage fd.
Holliger, P., Riechmann, L.(1997) Structure 5: 265-275
- PubMed: 9032075 Search on PubMed
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0969-2126(97)00184-6
- Primary Citation Related Structures:
1FGP - PubMed Abstract:
. Gene 3 protein (g3p), a minor coat protein from bacteriophage fd mediates infection of Escherichia coli bearing an F-pilus. Its N-terminal domain (g3p-D1) is essential for infection and mediates penetration of the phage into the host cytoplasm presumbly through interaction with the Tol complex in the E. coli membranes. Structural knowledge of g3p-D1 is both important for a molecular understanding of phage infection and of biotechnological relevance, as g3p-D1 represents the primary fusion partner in phage display technology. . The solution structure of g3p-D1 was determined by NMR spectroscopy. The principal structural element of g3p-D1 is formed by a six-stranded beta barrel topologically identical to a permutated SH3 domain but capped by an additional N-terminal alpha helix. The presence of structurally similar domains in the related E. coli phages, lke and 12-2, as well as in the cholera toxin transducing phage ctxφ is indicated. The structure of g3p-D1 resembles those of the recently described PTB and PDZ domains involved in eukaryotic signal transduction. . The predicted presence of similar structures in membrane penetration domains from widely diverging filamentous phages suggests they share a conserved infection pathway. The widespread hydrogen-bond network within the beta barrel and N-terminal alpha helix in combination with two disulphide bridges renders g3p-D1 a highly stable domain, which may be important for keeping phage infective in harsh extracellular environments.
- MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK.
Organizational Affiliation:
