Bacteriophage infection is targeted to cellular poles.
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 lambda DNA injection, was found to localize to the bacterial poles as well. Furthermore, labelling of lambda 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 lambda'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.
Edgar
Rotem
R
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. edgarr@mail.nih.gov
Rokney
Assaf
A
Feeney
Morgan
M
Semsey
Szabolcs
S
Kessel
Martin
M
Goldberg
Marcia B
MB
Adhya
Sankar
S
Oppenheim
Amos B
AB
D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D001665:Binding Sites; D016764:Cell Polarity; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins