Phages differ substantially in the bacterial hosts that they infect. Their host range is
determined by the specific structures that they use to target bacterial cells. Tailed phages …

Bacteriophages (phages), as natural antibacterial agents, are being rediscovered because
of the growing threat of multi-and pan-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens globally. However …

In this chapter, we describe the structure, assembly, function, and evolution of the long,
noncontractile tail of the siphophages, which comprise∼ 60% of the phages on earth. We …

Complex interactions between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts play significant roles
in shaping the structure of environmental microbial communities, not only by genetic …

Tailed bacteriophages (phages) are one of the most abundant life forms on Earth. They
encode highly efficient molecular machines to infect bacteria, but the initial interactions …

Monoderm bacteria possess a cell envelope made of a cytoplasmic membrane and a cell
wall, whereas diderm bacteria have and extra lipid layer, the outer membrane, covering the …

Bacterial capsules are not only important virulence factors, but also provide attachment sites
for bacteriophages that possess capsule degrading enzymes as tailspike proteins. To gain …

Bacteriophages belonging to the order Caudovirales possess a tail acting as a molecular
nanomachine used during infection to recognize the host cell wall, attach to it, pierce it, and …

Highlights•Siphophage tails share a common core architecture despite great sequence
diversity.•Myophage tails and phage-related injection systems also share the same …

Most bacteriophages present a tail allowing host recognition, cell wall perforation, and viral
DNA channeling from the capsid to the infected bacterium cytoplasm. The majority of tailed …