F-Type Pyocins Are Diverse Noncontractile Phage Tail-Like Weapons for Killing .

Most Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains produce bacteriocins derived from contractile or noncontractile phage tails known as R- and F-type pyocins, respectively. These bacteriocins possess strain-specific bactericidal activity against P. aeruginosa and likely increase evolutionary fitness through intraspecies competition.

Phage-antibiotic combinations: a promising approach to constrain resistance evolution in bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance has reached dangerously high levels throughout the world. A growing number of bacteria pose an urgent, serious, and concerning threat to public health. Few new antibiotics are available to clinicians and only few are in development, highlighting the need for new strategies to overcome the antibiotic resistance crisis.

Phage Proteins Required for Tail Fiber Assembly Also Bind Specifically to the Surface of Host Bacterial Strains.

To initiate their life cycle, phages must specifically bind to the surface of their bacterial hosts. Long-tailed phages often interact with the cell surface using fibers, which are elongated intertwined trimeric structures. The folding and assembly of these complex structures generally requires the activity of an intra- or intermolecular chaperone protein.

Phage tail fibre assembly proteins employ a modular structure to drive the correct folding of diverse fibres.

Phage tail fibres are elongated protein assemblies capable of specific recognition of bacterial surfaces during the first step of viral infection. The folding of these complex trimeric structures often requires a phage-encoded tail fibre assembly (Tfa) protein. Despite the wide occurrence of Tfa proteins, their functional mechanism has not been elucidated.