ArticlePLoS biology2011
A promiscuous DNA packaging machine from bacteriophage T4.
Article in PLoS biology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Protocol for HIV-1 latency reversal using engineered bacteriophage T4 particles.STAR protocols · 2026Article
- Dynamics of viral self-assembly, viral genome packaging, and virus-cell interactions studied by optical tweezers.European biophysics journal : EBJ · 2026Review
- In situ structures of the portal-neck-tail complex of bacteriophage T4 inform a viral genome positioning mechanism.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Cryo-EM structures of bacteriophage T4 portal-neck assembly intermediates reveal a viral genome retention mechanism.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Targeted bacteriophage T4 nanoparticles reverse HIV-1 latency in human T cell line models.iScience · 2025Article
- Bacteriophage T4 genome packaging: mechanism and application.EcoSal Plus · 2025Review
- Virion content unpacked by long-read sequencing: stress-induced changes in transmitted staphylococcal mobilome due to phage-satellite interactions.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Anti-phage defence through inhibition of virion assembly.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Optical Tweezers to Study Viruses.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2024Review
- Viral Genomic DNA Packaging Machinery.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2024Review
- Design of bacteriophage T4-based artificial viral vectors for human genome remodeling.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Review
- Streptococcus pyogenes Φ1207.3 Is a Temperate Bacteriophage Carrying the Macrolide Resistance Gene PairMicrobiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Viral Small Terminase: A Divergent Structural Framework for a Conserved Biological Function.Viruses · 2022Review
- Structures of a large prolate virus capsid in unexpanded and expanded states generate insights into the icosahedral virus assembly.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Bacteriophage T4 as a nanovehicle for delivery of genes and therapeutics into human cells.Current opinion in virology · 2022Review
- A viral genome packaging ring-ATPase is a flexibly coordinated pentamer.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Phages from GenusViruses · 2021Article
- Biophysical analysis of Pseudomonas-phage PaP3 small terminase suggests a mechanism for sequence-specific DNA-binding by lateral interdigitation.Nucleic acids research · 2020Article
- Preparation of a Bacteriophage T4-based Prokaryotic-eukaryotic Hybrid Viral Vector for Delivery of Large Cargos of Genes and Proteins into Human Cells.Bio-protocol · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Complex viruses are assembled from simple protein subunits by sequential and irreversible assembly. During genome packaging in bacteriophages, a powerful molecular motor assembles at the special portal vertex of an empty prohead to initiate packaging. The capsid expands after about 10%-25% of the genome is packaged. When the head is full, the motor cuts the concatemeric DNA and dissociates from the head. Conformational changes, particularly in the portal, are thought to drive these sequential transitions. We found that the phage T4 packaging machine is highly promiscuous, translocating DNA into finished phage heads as well as into proheads. Optical tweezers experiments show that single motors can force exogenous DNA into phage heads at the same rate as into proheads. Single molecule fluorescence measurements demonstrate that phage heads undergo repeated initiations, packaging multiple DNA molecules into the same head. These results suggest that the phage DNA packaging machine has unusual conformational plasticity, powering DNA into an apparently passive capsid receptacle, including the highly stable virus shell, until it is full. These features probably led to the evolution of viral genomes that fit capsid volume, a strikingly common phenomenon in double-stranded DNA viruses, and will potentially allow design of a novel class of nanocapsid delivery vehicles.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.