''Enterobacteria phage P4'' (also known as satellite phage P4) is a temperate
bacteriophage
A bacteriophage (), also known informally as a phage (), is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria. The term is derived . Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that Capsid, encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structu ...
strain of species ''
Escherichia virus P2'' within genus ''
Peduovirus'' (formerly ''P2-like viruses'', ''P2virus'', and ''P2likevirus''), subfamily ''
Peduovirinae'', family ''
Myoviridae''. It is a
satellite virus, requiring
P2-related helper phage to grow lytically.
Structure
The P4 virion has a tail and an icosahedral head containing a linear double-stranded DNA
genome
A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...
of 11,627
kb.
Life cycle
Phage P4 infects ''
Escherichia coli
''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...
''. It is a
satellite virus which cannot engage in lytic growth without the presence of a
P2-related helper phage. It generally follows a
lysogenic life cycle: after infection, the P4 genome integrates into that of its host. The P4 genome can also exist on its own within the host cell and can replicate as a free
plasmid
A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and ...
.
References
External links
NCBI Taxonomy
Myoviridae
Satellite viruses
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