Bacteriophages employ diverse mechanisms to facilitate the
proliferation of bacteriophages. The Salmonella-infecting
phage SPN3US contains a putative N-acetyltransferase, which
is widely found in bacteriophages. However, due to low sequence
similarity to the N-acetyltransferases from bacteria
and eukaryotic cells, the structure and function of phage-encoded
acetyltransferases are mainly unknown. This study
determines the crystal structure of the putative N-acetyltransferase
of SPN3US in complex with acetyl-CoA. The crystal
structure showed a novel homodimeric arrangement stabilized
by exchanging the C-terminal α-helix within the dimer.
The following biochemical analyses suggested that the phageencoded
acetyltransferase might have a very narrow substrate
specificity. Further studies are required to reveal the biochemical
activity, which would help elucidate the interaction
between the phage and host bacteria in controlling pathogenic
bacteria.
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Posttranslational modifications in bacteria during phage infection Hannelore Longin, Nand Broeckaert, Vera van Noort, Rob Lavigne, Hanne Hendrix Current Opinion in Microbiology.2024; 77: 102425. CrossRef