Overview
- The University of Otago–led team, with collaborators at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, published the Bas63 structure on November 12 in Science Advances.
- Bas63 is a Felixounavirus in the Ounavirinae subfamily that infects Escherichia coli, offering a model for species-specific antibacterial strategies.
- Cryo-electron microscopy resolved rare whisker-collar connections, hexamer decoration proteins, and diverse tail fibers that explain how the tail engages during infection.
- The structural features reveal parallels with very distantly related viruses, supporting deep evolutionary links noted to groups such as Herpes viruses.
- The authors present the 3D blueprint as a resource for rational selection and engineering of phages for treating infections and controlling biofilms, building on their earlier Nature Communications work on potato-pathogen phages.