Isolation and characterization of the base plates of bacteriophage T4

Abstract

A method was developed for the isolation of the base plates of bacteriophage T4 from lysates of cells of E. coli Bb, infected with the ts mutant T4 B31, with a defect in gene 19. It was shown by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel with sodium dodecylsulfate that the base plates contain seven protein components with molecular weights 30,000, 36,000, 46,000, 60,000, 86,000, and about 100,000 and 115,000. Electron microscopic investigations showed that the base plates can exist in 2 structural states: in the form of hexagons and stars. The rays of the stars and short fibrils are not radial and are turned sideways at an angle to the radius. The base plates are not complementary in vitro to already formed tail cores, isolated after disintegration of the wild type bacteriophage particles.