Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K4268007"

Revision as of 05:06, 8 October 2022

S-TIP37 Tail Fiber-Like Protein

Usage and Biology

S-TIP37 is a T7-like cyanophage that infects its host via a lytic life cycle (Shitrit et al., 2021). T7-like phages are characterized by a complex symmetrical capsid structure, which includes an icosahedral head that houses the phage's genome, and an internal core region that stabilizes the packaged DNA inside the head. A neck region that facilitates DNA delivery into a host, and six tail fibers used for attachment to its host (Raytcheva et al., 2011).

Figure 1: A labeled visual detailing the various structures of a T7-like phage (Kemp et al., 2005)

This part belongs to a collection that codes for a "ghost" phage. This ghost phage is a capsid-only, empty viral shell that could be modified to immobilize Cyanobacteria recognized by the viral tail fibers, or used with modification to deliver substances to a chassis Cyanobacteria.

However, it will infect Synechococcus sp WH 8109, the cyanobacteria strain that is the natural host of S-TIP37. Further modeling will be needed to determine if the "ghost" phage could effectively target other strains of Cyanobacteria that are used in synthetic biology, such as Synechococcus sp PCC 11901.

The Tail Fiber-Like Protein (gp40) has been provisionally identified as coding for use in the assembly of the tail fibers responsible for attachment to cyanobacteria during infection.

Sequence and Features