Is the in vitro ejection of bacteriophage DNA quasistatic? A bulk to single virus study.
Bacteriophage T5 DNA ejection is a complex process that occurs on several timescales in vitro. By using a combination of bulk and single phage measurements, we quantitatively study the three steps of the ejection-binding to the host receptor, channel-opening, and DNA release. Each step is separately addressed and its kinetics parameters evaluated. We reconstruct the bulk kinetics from the distribution of single phage events by following individual DNA molecules with unprecedented time resolution. We show that, at the single phage level, the ejection kinetics of the DNA happens by rapid transient bursts that are not correlated to any genome sequence defects. We speculate that these transient pauses are due to local phase transitions of the DNA inside the capsid. We predict that such pauses should be seen for other phages with similar DNA packing ratios.
Chiaruttini
N
N
Nanobiophysics Laboratory, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielle, ParisTech, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.
de Frutos
M
M
Augarde
E
E
Boulanger
P
P
Letellier
L
L
Viasnoff
V
V
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000378:metabolism*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D011485:Protein Binding; D013997:Time Factors
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C050900:FhuA protein, E coli