9MGH

In situ cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage Ur-lambda tail side fiber

Summary for 9MGH

Entry DOI	10.2210/pdb9mgh/pdb
EMDB information	48256
Descriptor	Tail fiber protein (1 entity in total)
Functional Keywords	bacteriophage, tail tip complex, viral protein
Biological source	Escherichia phage Lambda
Total number of polymer chains	12
Total formula weight	121107.42
Authors	Yu, H.,Liu, J.,Molineux, I.J. (deposition date: 2024-12-10, release date: 2025-11-26)
Primary citation	Yu, H.,Wang, C.,Yue, J.,Guo, W.,Molineux, I.J.,Liu, J. Structural basis of bacteriophage Ur-lambda infection initiation. Sci Adv, 11:eadw7914-eadw7914, 2025 Cited by PubMed Abstract: Bacteriophages must recognize host receptors and penetrate the host cell envelope to initiate infection. How the classic phage λ initiates infection is not yet understood. Here, we combine cryo-electron microscopy and tomography to visualize infection initiation by Ur-λ, the original λ isolate that uses side fibers to adsorb rapidly to . We determine the structure of Ur-λ, resolving the full-length central and side fibers, thus providing a structural basis for host recognition. We show that Ur-λ contains six copies of its tape measure protein. We capture intermediates of the tail tip complex during infection initiation, revealing how extensive conformational changes enable adsorption, and visualize the trans-envelope channel required for genome ejection. PubMed: 41237242 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw7914 PDB entries with the same primary citation
Experimental method	ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (3.31 Å)

Structure validation