Skip to main content
. 2019 Oct 16;5(10):eaaw7414. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7414

Fig. 6. Mechanism of P68 genome delivery into S. aureus cell.

Fig. 6

(A) Diagram of P68 virion. (B) Mechanism of P68 genome delivery. P68 virion attaches to cell surface by head or tail fibers (1). This attachment allows enzymes from tail spike to cleave bacterial cell wall (2). This degradation of S. aureus cell wall enables P68 to bind with its tail axis perpendicular to cell surface (3). Further cell wall digestion allows tip of P68 tail to reach cytoplasmic membrane, which triggers release of inner core proteins and DNA (4). Inner core proteins form channel in membrane for ejection of phage DNA into bacterial cytoplasm (5).