Yap Moh LanThomas KloseFumio ArisakaJeffrey A. SpeirDavid VeeslerAndrei FokineMichael G. Rossmann2024-11-012024-11-012016-02-2910.1073/pnas.1601654113https://dspace-cris.utar.edu.my/handle/123456789/5887<jats:title>Significance</jats:title> <jats:p> 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>journal-article