title: The DNA-packaging nanomotor of tailed bacteriophages.
abstract: Tailed bacteriophages use nanomotors, or molecular machines that convert chemical energy into physical movement of molecules, to insert their double-stranded DNA genomes into virus particles. These viral nanomotors are powered by ATP hydrolysis and pump the DNA into a preformed protein container called a procapsid. As a result, the virions contain very highly compacted chromosomes. Here, I review recent progress in obtaining structural information for virions, procapsids and the individual motor protein components, and discuss single-molecule in vitro packaging reactions, which have yielded important new information about the mechanism by which these powerful molecular machines translocate DNA.
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology and Immunology, Pathology Department, University of Utah School of Medicine, 15 North Medical Drive East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA. sherwood.casjens@path.utah.edu
authors.forename: Sherwood R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Casjens
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000502:physiology; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002213:Capsid / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020285:Cryoelectron Microscopy; D042003:DNA Packaging / Q000502:physiology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000502:physiology*; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate