Premium
Bacteriophage infection is targeted to cellular poles
Author(s) -
Edgar Rotem,
Rokney Assaf,
Feeney Morgan,
Semsey Szabolcs,
Kessel Martin,
Goldberg Marcia B.,
Adhya Sankar,
Oppenheim Amos B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2008.06205.x
Subject(s) - biology , vibrio cholerae , bacteriophage , escherichia coli , virulence , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , yersinia , bacteria , gene , yersinia pseudotuberculosis , bacterial virus , temperateness , function (biology) , genetics
Summary The poles of bacteria exhibit several specialized functions related to the mobilization of DNA and certain proteins. To monitor the infection of Escherichia coli cells by light microscopy, we developed procedures for the tagging of mature bacteriophages with quantum dots. Surprisingly, most of the infecting phages were found attached to the bacterial poles. This was true for a number of temperate and virulent phages of E. coli that use widely different receptors and for phages infecting Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae. The infecting phages colocalized with the polar protein marker IcsA–GFP. ManY, an E. coli protein that is required for phage λ DNA injection, was found to localize to the bacterial poles as well. Furthermore, labelling of λ DNA during infection revealed that it is injected and replicated at the polar region of infection. The evolutionary benefits that lead to this remarkable preference for polar infections may be related to λ's developmental decision as well as to the function of poles in the ability of bacterial cells to communicate with their environment and in gene regulation.