A conserved infection pathway for filamentous bacteriophages is suggested by the structure of the membrane penetration domain of the minor coat protein g3p from phage fd.
Holliger, P., Riechmann, L.(1997) Structure 5: 265-275
- PubMed: 9032075 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0969-2126(97)00184-6
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1FGP - PubMed Abstract: 
. Gene 3 protein (g3p), a minor coat protein from bacteriophage fd mediates infection of Escherichia coli bearing an F-pilus. Its N-terminal domain (g3p-D1) is essential for infection and mediates penetration of the phage into the host cytoplasm presumbly through interaction with the Tol complex in the E. coli membranes. Structural knowledge of g3p-D1 is both important for a molecular understanding of phage infection and of biotechnological relevance, as g3p-D1 represents the primary fusion partner in phage display technology.
Organizational Affiliation: 
MRC Centre for Protein Engineering, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK.