Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-9-2022
Abstract
Sf6 is a bacterial virus that infects the human pathogen Shigella flexneri. Here, we describe the cryo–electron microscopy structure of the Sf6 tail machine before DNA ejection, which we determined at a 2.7-angstrom resolution. We built de novo structures of all tail components and resolved four symmetry-mismatched interfaces. Unexpectedly, we found that the tail exists in two conformations, rotated by ~6° with respect to the capsid. The two tail conformers are identical in structure but differ solely in how the portal and head-to-tail adaptor carboxyl termini bond with the capsid at the fivefold vertex, similar to a diamond held over a five-pronged ring in two nonidentical states. Thus, in the mature Sf6 tail, the portal structure does not morph locally to accommodate the symmetry mismatch but exists in two energetic minima rotated by a discrete angle. We propose that the design principles of the Sf6 tail are conserved across P22-like Podoviridae.
Recommended Citation
Li, Fenglin; Hou, Chun-Feng David; Yang, Ruoyu; Whitehead, Richard; Teschke, Carolyn M.; and Cingolani, Gino, "High-Resolution Cryo-EM Structure of the Shigella Virus Sf6 Genome Delivery Tail Machine" (2022). Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers. Paper 231.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/bmpfp/231
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
PubMed ID
36475795
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author's final published version in Science Advances, Volume 8, Issue 49, December 2022, Article number eadc9641.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adc9641. Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.