Assembly and Structure of Bacteriophage Lambda

总结 该项目旨在发现和描述病毒组装的机制， 最终达到近原子的分辨率， 病毒衣壳成熟的动态和能量方面。研究对象 包括噬菌体HK 97的头部，特别关注衣壳 组装，衣壳成熟，共价结合的控制和机制 交联;噬菌体λ尾，特别关注长度测定 和组装分子伴侣的作用;噬菌体λ长尾纤维， 对组装伴侣的作用和相互作用模式特别感兴趣; 和一组具有异常大的衣壳， 特别感兴趣的是如何准确地确定衣壳大小。这项工作 将增强我们对病毒生命周期和分子机器的理解。 正在研究的这组病毒具有许多其组装的特征， 成熟与动物病毒，特别是包括疱疹病毒，所以这些 这些研究有可能提高我们对人类病原体的认识。

SUMMARY This project seeks to discover and describe mechanisms of virus assembly, ultimately at near-atomic resolution and including an understanding of the dynamic and energetic aspects of virus capsid maturation. Objects to be studied include the head of bacteriophage HK97, with particular interest in capsid assembly, capsid maturation, and control and mechanism of covalent crosslinking; phage lambda tails, with particular interest in length determination and the role of assembly chaperones; phage lambda long tail fibers, with particular interest in the role and mode of interaction of an assembly chaperone; and the capsids of a group of phages with unusually large capsids, with particular interest in how large capsid sizes are determined accurately. This work will enhance our understanding of virus life cycles and of molecular machines. The group of viruses under study shares many of the features of its assembly and maturation with animal viruses, especially including Herpesvirus, so these studies have the potential to enhance our understanding of human pathogens.