ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
ssRNA phage penetration triggers detachment of the F-pilus.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genome-wide characterization of host factors involved in single-stranded RNA and DNA phage infection pathways.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- The cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage PRR1 and its role in conjugation inhibition.Journal of virology · 2026Article
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- Soil to host environmental determinants fueling horizontal gene transfer and global AMR dissemination.Folia microbiologica · 2026Review
- Phage-derived proteins and conjugates induce pilus detachment.Journal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Suppressing Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance by a Small RNA Virus.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Enhancing propagation and purification efficiency of M13 bacteriophage for improved phage display applications.Biology methods & protocols · 2026Article
- Effect of biofilm lifestyle caused by water matric potential on invasion of exogenous plasmid.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Engineered Proteins Mimic ssRNA Phage to Disrupt Type IV Pili.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Extracellular uncoating of bacteriophage MS2.Journal of molecular biology · 2025Article
- Navigating the Fitness Landscape: Host Density, Epistasis, and Clonal Interference Drive Divergent Evolutionary Pathways in Phage Qβ.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system as a native defence element against RNA phages.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model bacterium in antiphage defense research.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2025Review
- Evaluating phage lytic activity: from plaque assays to single-cell technologies.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Removal ofScience (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Structural basis of Acinetobacter type IV pili targeting by an RNA virus.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Chimeric systems composed of swapped Tra subunits between distantly-related F plasmids reveal striking plasticity among type IV secretion machines.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- Environmental viromes reveal global virosphere of deep-sea sediment RNA viruses.Journal of advanced research · 2024Article
- Archaeal virus entry and egress.microLife · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Although the F-specific ssRNA phage MS2 has long had paradigm status, little is known about penetration of the genomic RNA (gRNA) into the cell. The phage initially binds to the F-pilus using its maturation protein (Mat), and then the Mat-bound gRNA is released from the viral capsid and somehow crosses the bacterial envelope into the cytoplasm. To address the mechanics of this process, we fluorescently labeled the ssRNA phage MS2 to track F-pilus dynamics during infection. We discovered that ssRNA phage infection triggers the release of F-pili from host cells, and that higher multiplicity of infection (MOI) correlates with detachment of longer F-pili. We also report that entry of gRNA into the host cytoplasm requires the F-plasmid-encoded coupling protein, TraD, which is located at the cytoplasmic entrance of the F-encoded type IV secretion system (T4SS). However, TraD is not essential for pilus detachment, indicating that detachment is triggered by an early step of MS2 engagement with the F-pilus or T4SS. We propose a multistep model in which the ssRNA phage binds to the F-pilus and through pilus retraction engages with the distal end of the T4SS channel at the cell surface. Continued pilus retraction pulls the Mat-gRNA complex out of the virion into the T4SS channel, causing a torsional stress that breaks the mature F-pilus at the cell surface. We propose that phage-induced disruptions of F-pilus dynamics provides a selective advantage for infecting phages and thus may be prevalent among the phages specific for retractile pili.
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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.