Role of bacteriophage T4 baseplate in regulating assembly and infection

<jats:title>Significance</jats:title>
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This study examines how the high-energy, dome-shaped infectious form of the bacteriophage T4 baseplate assembles as opposed to how it assembles in the low-energy, star-shaped form that occurs after infection. Normal expectations would be that a molecular assembly occurs as a result of loss of energy. However, a virus has to be poised in a high-energy form to fight its way into a host. Our investigations of T4 have now shown how bacteriophage T4 can assemble into a high-energy form and how the structure of the components directs the sequential conformational changes that gain access to the host, an
<jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic>
bacterium.
</jats:p>