Baseplate hub assembly protein gp26 of bacteriophage T4 required during late morphogenesis for the assembly of the central hub of the tail baseplate. Synthesized as a 208-amino-acid precursor whose N-terminal five residues are removed in mature tail-baseplate complexes, gp26 acts alongside group II hub factors (gp27, gp28, gp29, gp51, and gp5) to promote formation of the central baseplate plug onto which the six peripheral baseplate wedges circularize.
| GO Term | Evidence | Action | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| GO:0098003 viral tail assembly | IEA GO_REF:0000043 | ACCEPT | Reason: Genetic and biochemical studies establish that gene 26 is an essential group II baseplate hub gene required to form the central hub/plug of the bacteriophage T4 tail baseplate during viral tail morphogenesis. Supporting Evidence: file:BPT4/26/26-uniprot.txt FUNCTION: Baseplate hub assembly chaperone involved in the tail assembly. file:BPT4/26/26-deep-research-falcon.md Genetic evidence places gene 26 among “group II” baseplate genes required to form the central part (hub/plug) of the baseplate. |
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Download this section (compressed HTML)Q: What is the functional significance of the shorter internal-initiation product gp26* (~10-11 kDa) relative to full-length proteolytically processed gp26 during baseplate hub assembly?
Q: Which viral or host protease cleaves the N-terminal pentapeptide (MYEYK) of gp26, and is this cleavage coupled to hub incorporation or gp29 tape measure anchoring?
Experiment: Perform native mass spectrometry and cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) on early T4 hub assembly intermediates containing gp5, gp27, gp26, gp28, gp29, and gp51 to define the direct binding partners and stoichiometry of gp26 and gp26*.
Experiment: Mutate the internal translation initiation codon of gene 26 without altering the amino acid sequence of full-length gp26 to test whether gp26* is independently required for efficient phage T4 plaque formation and hub assembly.
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