Biophysical studies of membrane proteins/peptides. Interaction with ...

PROTEIN-PROTEIN AND PROTEIN-LIPID INTERACTIONS
OF M13 MCP
II
1. Introduction
PROTEIN-PROTEIN AND
PROTEIN-LIPID
INTERACTIONS OF M13
MAJOR COAT PROTEIN
The M(unich)13 bacteriophage was discovered in 1963 by P. H. Hofschneider in an
incubation of waste water samples with Escherichia coli bacteria. It belongs to the large
family of filamentous phages (Inoviridae), which comprise some of the smallest
bacteriophages known (Spruijt et al., 1999).
These viruses are able to infect bacteria without great disturbance of the host cells.
In this way, reproduction of the virus inside the host goes on as cells continue to grow
and divide even if at a reduced rate. For efficient infection, filamentous phages require
expression of pili on the surface of the host bacteria. The pili acts as a receptor site, and
depending on the specificity for pili interaction, filamentous bacteriophages are divided
in different classes. The M13 bacteriophage belongs to the Ff group, which is only able
to infect E. coli cells carrying sex pili (Spruijt et al., 1999). Genetic manipulation of
plasmids derived from the M13 bacteriophage proved to be relatively easy, and this
allowed the M13 genome to be widely used as a cloning vector (Spruijt et al., 1999).
One of the factors that contributed to the enormous popularity of the M13
bacteriophage in biotechnology was its relatively simple architecture. The phage
47