What is T4 phage in biology?

Escherichia virus T4 is a species of bacteriophages that infect Escherichia coli bacteria. It is a double-stranded DNA virus in the subfamily Tevenvirinae from the family Myoviridae. T4 is capable of undergoing only a lytic lifecycle and not the lysogenic lifecycle.

What disease does bacteriophage T4 cause?

The T4 Phage initiates an E. coli infection by recognizing cell surface receptors of the host with its long tail fibers (LTF).

What does T stand for in T4 bacteriophage?

Bacteriophage T4 is one of the seven Escherichia coli phages (T1–T7, T for type), which, in 1944, were suggested by Delbruck and coworkers to be models for study by the phage community [1].

Is bacteriophage T4 a virus?

Bacteriophage T4 from family Myoviridae is one of the most complex tailed viruses that infects Escherichia coli (E. coli) by injecting its genome into the host cell using a highly efficient contractile injection machinery.

How big is a T4 bacteriophage?

The bacteriophage T4 capsid is an elongated icosahedron, 120 nm long and 86 nm wide, and is built with three essential proteins; gp23*, which forms the hexagonal capsid lattice, gp24*, which forms pentamers at eleven of the twelve vertices, and gp20, which forms the unique dodecameric portal vertex through which DNA …

Is T4 bacteriophage good or bad?

Bacteriophage means “eater of bacteria,” and these spidery-looking viruses may be the most abundant life-form on the planet. HIV, Hepatitis C, and Ebola have given viruses a bad name, but microscopic phages are the good guys of the virology world.

Can a bacteriophage make a human sick?

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria but are harmless to humans.

How does T4 bacteriophage reproduce?

T4 bacteriophages reproduce via a lytic life cycle. Without their cell-puncturing device T4 bacteriophages would be unable to introduce their DNA into the cell of a host system. The lytic cycle allows the T4 bacteriophage to transform a host cell into a replication machine.

What is the largest bacteriophage?

Among the discovery was the largest bacteriophage to date: its genome, 735,000 base-pairs long, is nearly 15 times larger than the average phage. This largest known phage genome is much larger than genomes of many bacteria.

Can phages hurt humans?

Bacterial viruses are called phages or bacteriophages. They only attack bacteria; phages are harmless to people, animals, and plants. Bacteriophages are the natural enemies of bacteria. The word bacteriophage means “bacteria eater.” They’re found in soil, sewage, water, and other places bacteria live.

What is the typical burst size?

10. The average burst size is independent of the temperature, and is about 60 phage particles per bacterium.