Structural Model of Bacteriophage T4

Abstract

Bacteriophage T4 is a virus that infects Escherichia coli, having dimensions of 90 nm in width and 200 nm in length (head and tail in extended form). [1] It is a quite common model organism that has been studied for a century by many important virologists, and even Watson and Crick after their elucidation of DNA. Structural characterisation of the bacteriophage’s individual proteins began in the 1980s,[2] and complexes of multiple proteins in the 1990s.[3] However, it has not yet been possible to structurally characterise the complete phage in atomic detail (though some have begun to come closer)[4] with multiple overall schematic models published.[5]The increasing power of computers and the RCSB structural database have made possible the construction of a single combined model of the entire bacteriophage T4 organism with atomic resolution components as described here.