Monoderm bacteria possess a cell envelope made of a cytoplasmic membrane and a cell
wall, whereas diderm bacteria have and extra lipid layer, the outer membrane, covering the …

Sixty years after Hershey and Chase showed that nucleic acid is the major component of
phage particles that is ejected into cells, we still do not fully understand how the process …

Tailed dsDNA bacteriophage virions bind to susceptible cells with the tips of their tails and
then deliver their DNA through the tail into the cells to initiate infection. This chapter …

Bacteriophage SPP1 targets the host cell membrane protein YueB to irreversibly adsorb and
infect Bacillus subtilis. Interestingly, SPP1 still binds to the surface of yueB mutants, although …

In this chapter, we describe the structure, assembly, function, and evolution of the long,
noncontractile tail of the siphophages, which comprise∼ 60% of the phages on earth. We …

Tailed bacteriophages and herpesviruses package DNA inside the viral capsid by a
powerful molecular motor. This packaging machine is composed of the portal protein, which …

Double-stranded DNA bacteriophage genomes are densely packaged into capsids until the
ejection is triggered upon interaction of the tail with the bacterial receptor. Using cryo …

The relative simplicity of viruses makes it possible to apply generic physical approaches to
the understanding of their structure and function. We focus here on viruses that have double …

Bacteriophages use specific tail proteins to recognize host cells. It is still not understood to
molecular detail how the signal is transmitted over the tail to initiate infection. We have …

Tailed bacteriophage particles carry DNA highly pressurized inside the capsid. Challenge
with their receptor promotes release of viral DNA. We show that addition of the osmolyte …