ViroBlogy

See on Scoop.it – Virology and Bioinformatics from Virology.ca

“The flagellotropic phage 7-7-1 infects motile cells of Agrobacterium sp H13-3 by attaching to and traveling along the rotating flagellar filament to the secondary receptor at the base, where it injects its DNA into the host cell.”

This is an interesting paper, because it describes a phage infecting Agrobacterium – and touches on a subject that has intrigued me for years, which is: How does a phage which attaches to a flagellum, get its genome inside the cell?  This throws some mud onto a previous model, which suggested a passive mode of transport like a well-oiled nut moving towards the head of a bolt, as in this case that would result in transport the other way.  Expectr more on this topic!

Image sourced from the paper

See on www.virologyj.com

This entry was posted on 1 June, 2012 at 09:36 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.