Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and replicate within their host cells. Prophage DNA remains integrated in the bacterial DNA until the proliferation of new phages is triggered, and ultimately the host cell is lysed to release the phage progeny. Bacteriophages employ a versatile and long-evolved proteome which is an invaluable source of proteins with significant potential biotechnological applications. Prophage generation can be induced in B. subtilis by the addition of mitomycin C or thermally. XepA appears 20 min after induction and its concentration increases steadily until cell lysis. It is not present in the mature phage particles, but is exported beyond the cytoplasmic membrane during phage development, suggesting that the protein is involved in cell-wall metabolism or degradation. Here you can see a crystal structure of XepA protein, over an AI-generated background (PDB code: 6I56)

#molecularart ... #phage ... #bacillus ... #lysis ... #AI ... #background ... #xray

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint