Global structural survey of the flagellotropic myophage φTE infecting agricultural pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum

James Hodgkinson-Bean, Rafael Ayala, Nadishka Jayawardena, Georgia L. Rutter, Bridget N. J. Watson, David Mayo-Muñoz, James Keal, Peter C. Fineran, Matthias Wolf () and Mihnea Bostina ()
Additional contact information
James Hodgkinson-Bean: University of Otago
Rafael Ayala: Onna-son
Nadishka Jayawardena: Onna-son
Georgia L. Rutter: University of Otago
Bridget N. J. Watson: University of Exeter
David Mayo-Muñoz: University of Otago
James Keal: University of Adelaide
Peter C. Fineran: University of Otago
Matthias Wolf: Onna-son
Mihnea Bostina: University of Otago

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Bacteriophages offer a promising alternative to drug-based treatments due to their effectiveness and host specificity. This is particularly important in agriculture as a biocontrol agent of plant diseases. Phage engineering is facilitated by structural knowledge. However, structural information regarding bacteriophages infecting plant pathogens is limited. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage φTE that infects plant pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum. The structure reveals a distinct neck topology compared with other myophages, where tail terminator proteins compensate for reduced connectivity between sheath subunits. A contact network between tail fibers, the sheath initiator, and baseplate wedge proteins provides insights into triggers that transduce conformational changes from the baseplate to the sheath to orchestrate contraction. We observe two distinct oligomeric states of the tape measure protein (TMP), which is six-fold in regions proximal to the N-terminus and throughout most of the tail, while three-fold at the C-terminus, indicating that the TMP may be proteolytically cleaved. Our results provide a structural atlas of the model bacteriophage φTE, enhancing future interpretation of phage host interactions in pectobacteria. We anticipate that our structure will inform rational design of biocontrol agents against plant pathogens that cause diseases such as soft rot and blackleg disease in potatoes.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58514-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-58514-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58514-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().