Structure and mechanism of DNA delivery of a gene transfer agent

Pavol Bárdy, Tibor Füzik, Dominik Hrebík, Roman Pantůček, J. Thomas Beatty and Pavel Plevka ()
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Pavol Bárdy: Faculty of Science, Masaryk University
Tibor Füzik: Masaryk University
Dominik Hrebík: Masaryk University
Roman Pantůček: Faculty of Science, Masaryk University
J. Thomas Beatty: University of British Columbia
Pavel Plevka: Masaryk University

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Alphaproteobacteria, which are the most abundant microorganisms of temperate oceans, produce phage-like particles called gene transfer agents (GTAs) that mediate lateral gene exchange. However, the mechanism by which GTAs deliver DNA into cells is unknown. Here we present the structure of the GTA of Rhodobacter capsulatus (RcGTA) and describe the conformational changes required for its DNA ejection. The structure of RcGTA resembles that of a tailed phage, but it has an oblate head shortened in the direction of the tail axis, which limits its packaging capacity to less than 4,500 base pairs of linear double-stranded DNA. The tail channel of RcGTA contains a trimer of proteins that possess features of both tape measure proteins of long-tailed phages from the family Siphoviridae and tail needle proteins of short-tailed phages from the family Podoviridae. The opening of a constriction within the RcGTA baseplate enables the ejection of DNA into bacterial periplasm.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16669-9

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