期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1975
卷号：72
期号：9
页码：3701-3705
DOI：10.1073/pnas.72.9.3701
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The 400 A filaments or "whiskers," which extend outward from the collar region of the phage, control retraction and extension of the tail fibers in response to certain environmental conditions. The tail fibers of normal phage retract in the absence of a required adsorption cofactor, at low pH, at low ionic strength, at low temperature, and at high concentrations of polyethylene glycol. The tail fibers of mutant whiskerless (wac) phage still retract under the first two conditions, but not the last three. Antibodies to whiskers neutralize T4, probably by fixing tail fibers in the retracted configuration. Phage with retracted tail fibers adsorb poorly to host bacterial cells, and their adsorption rate increases as the fibers become extended. These results suggest that one function of the whiskers is to retract the tail fibers and thereby prevent adsorption to host cells under certain conditions that might be unfavorable for production of phage progeny following infection.
