Investigation on the dynamic structure of the lipid-containing virus PM2 and correlation with the infectivity.

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This project has two major aims. One is to establish a new NMR method which enable us to investigate supramolecular biological systems in vivo. The other one is to apply this method to a lipid-containing bacteriophage PM2 and its host cell, Alteromnas espejiana BAL-31. Such investigation would provide us the information on the dynamic structures of the intact PM2 and BAL-31. The fist aim has been almost accomplished. A part of the work was already published. Through this work it has been shown that the cross-polarization NMR is one of the powerful methods to investigate huge molecular complexes in vivo. In the second part of the project, the <^(31)P> -NMR spectra of lipid bilayers and nucleic acids in vivo were obtained separately not only for PM2 but also for the host cell, BAL-31 by using the cross-polarization NMR. The thermal properties of the multilamellar of the lipids extracted from PM2 and BAL-31 were examined with the Privalov type calorimeter DACM4. The phase transition behavior of the intact biomembranes and extracted lipids were compared. The termination temperature of the phase transition of the intact membranes was found to be lower for BAL-31 and higher for PM2 than that of the extracted lipids. The origin of the difference is not yet clear. The correlation between the dynamic structures and the infectivity was discussed on the basis of these data. It is suggested that the lipid bilayers of PM2 should be in the liquid-crystalline state for the effective infection.