Considering the emergence of highly pathogenic influenza viruses and threat of worldwide pandemics, there is an urgent need to develop broadly-protective influenza vaccines. In this study, we demonstrate the potential of T7 bacteriophage-based nanoparticles with genetically fused ectodomain of influenza A virus M2 protein (T7-M2e) as a candidate universal flu vaccine. Immunization of mice with ...

Four T7 products, DNA polymerase, gene 4 protein, RNA polymerase, and DNA binding protein, have been purified from phage-infected cells. It has been previously shown (Hinkle, D. C., and Richardson, C. C. (1975) J. Biol. Chem 250, 5523-5529; Kolodner, R., and Richardson, C, C. (1978) J. Biol. Chem 253, 574-584) that two T7 products, DNA polymerase and gene 4 protein, catalyze extensive synthesis...

A mutant of Salmonella typhimurium was found to be sensitive to killing by coliphage T7 because of an alteration in its surface properties. However, the infections were abortive and studies with (32)P-labeled T7 grown in Escherichia coli B (T7.B) indicated that the phage DNA was restricted by S. typhimurium. When a mutant T7 which survived the restriction and produced plaques on Salmonella (T7....

Bacteriophage T7 is unable to productively infect Escherichia coli strains carrying the sex factor F. T7 phage development, in terms of RNA and protein synthesis, was compared in T7-infected isogenic F- and F+ strains of E. coli. Slightly less T7 early mRNA and early protein were synthesized in F+ cells. In addition to the defect in T7 late protein production in F+ cells reported by others, sig...

T7 early mRNA produced by a gene 1 amber mutant phage, T7 am27, is chemically stable interms of acid insolubility and T7 DNA hybridizability. However, the messenger activity of individual T7 early mRNA species, transcripts of gene 1, gene 0.7, and gene 1.3, decay with a half-life of about 6.5 min at 30 C. An extensive secondary structure is present in all T7 early mRNA species and is probably r...

The entire T7 bacteriophage genome contains 39937 base pairs (Database NCBI RefSeq N1001604). Here, electrostatic potential distribution around double helical T7 DNA was calculated by Coulomb method using the computer program of Sorokin A.A. ([email protected]). Electrostatic profiles of 17 promoters recognized by T7 phage-specific RNA polymerase were analyzed. It was shown that electrostatic p...

Molecular information theory was used to create sequence logos and promoter models for eight phages of the T7 group: T7, phiA1122, T3, phiYeO3-12, SP6, K1-5, gh-1 and K11. When these models were used to scan the corresponding genomes, a significant gap in the individual information distribution was observed between functional promoter sites and other sequences, suggesting that the models can be...

The lysozyme of bacteriophage T7 is a bifunctional protein that cuts amide bonds in the bacterial cell wall and binds to and inhibits transcription by T7 RNA polymerase. The structure of a mutant T7 lysozyme has been determined by x-ray crystallography and refined at 2.2-A resolution. The protein folds into an alpha/beta-sheet structure that has a prominent cleft. A zinc atom is located in the ...

I use bacteriophage T7, a lytic virus that infects bacterium E. coli, as a model system to explore how the genetic information encoded in a genome determines the phenotype of an organism in a given environment. By incorporating the existing experimental data and mechanisms, our group previously developed a genetically structured model of T7 intracellular growth. I extended and improved the mode...

Bacteriophage T7 helicase (T7 gene 4 helicase-primase) is a prototypical member of the ring-shaped family of helicases, whose structure and biochemical mechanisms have been studied in detail. T7 helicase assembles into a homohexameric ring that binds single-stranded DNA in its central channel. Using RecA-type nucleotide binding and sensing motifs, T7 helicase binds and hydrolyzes several NTPs, ...