Structure of viral connectors and their function in bacteriophage assembly and DNA packaging

Abstract

The viruses have been an attractive model for the study of basic mechanisms of protein/protein and protein/nucleic acid interactions involved in the assembly of macromolecular aggregates. This has been due primarily to their relative genetic simplicity as compared to their structural and functional complexity. Although most of the initial studies were carried out on bacterial and plant viruses, increasing data has also been accumulated from animal viruses, which has led to an understanding of some basic principles, as well as to many specific strategies in every system. The study of virus assembly has been a source of ideas that underlie our present knowledge of the organization of biological systems. It has also provided, since the production of bacteriophage mutants which have allowed the study of assembly intermediates, the first system in which the genetic studies played a dominant role. The increasing volume of data over the last years has revealed how the structural components can interact sequentially through an ordered pathway to yield macromolecular assemblies that satisfy the demands of stability required for a successful transfer of genetic information from host to host.