Tape measure protein having MT3 motif facilitates phage entry into stationary phase cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Comput Biol Chem. 2008 Oct;32(5):367-9. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2008.03.016. Epub 2008 Apr 8.

Abstract

Tape measure protein (TMP) having MT3 motif in mycobacteriophage TM4 genome has been reported to enable the phage infection of Mycobacterium smegmatis during stationary phase. In the present work looking at eight additional mycobacteriophage genomes by in silico analysis, six of them have been found to possess MT3 motif in TMP. The absence of MT3 motif in Che12 and D29 probably makes them incapable of infecting stationary phase cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis which was experimentally evaluated by the performance of respective luciferase reporter phage constructs developed from the parental phages Che12, D29 and TM4.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Computational Biology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mycobacteriophages / genetics
  • Mycobacteriophages / physiology*
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / cytology
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / virology*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Viral Proteins / genetics
  • Viral Proteins / physiology*
  • Virus Internalization*

Substances

  • Viral Proteins