From medicine to agriculture and aquaculture, bacteriophages are poised to have global impact. As viruses which target only bacterial cells, they hold promise as an alternative to antibiotics, overcoming increasing issues around antibiotic resistance. However, the size, complexity and growth conditions of phages make them difficult to study, limiting progress in the field.
The Molecular Cryo-Electron Microscopy Unit at OIST, led by Professor Matthias Wolf, are supporting this area of research by mapping the full structure of certain bacteriophages in molecular detail. Their new structural insights, combined with biological understanding, can enable rational phage design and transform how diseases are treated.
The videos at Tunnel Gallery show the full atomic model of bacteriophage φTE, known to infect plant pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum. Their unique technique of cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) describes the bacteriophage in unprecedented detail, supporting new mechanistic understanding into how such viruses function.
Hodgkinson-Bean, J., Ayala, R., Jayawardena, N. et al. Global structural survey of the flagellotropic myophage φTE infecting agricultural pathogen Pectobacterium atrosepticum. Nat Commun 16, 3257 (2025). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58514-x#Sec16