For the first time, the study obtained the three-dimensional structure of the natural enemy of cyanobacteria in chaohu water

Through long-term efforts, Zhou Congzhao, a professor at the National Research Center for Microscale Material Science and the School of Life Sciences at the University of Science and Technology of China, and Chen Yuxing's team isolated a brand-new long-tailed algae Mic1 from the Chaohu Lake, which was able to specifically infect the dominant algae species of microcystic algae in chaohu water. Using frozen electroscope technology, they obtained the first three-dimensional structure of freshwater algae. The findings were published online online in the journal Structure.
is one of the oldest living things on Earth and can be photochemically involved in regulating the carbon-nitrogen cycle of the biosphere. However, in nutrient-rich water bodies, the overbreeding of cyanobacteria leads to water blooms, causing serious economic and social problems. In Chaohu, China's fifth-largest freshwater lake, serious water pollution occurs every year, but there is still no effective way to control it.
is a specific infection of cyanobacteria virus, can regulate the population density and seasonal distribution of cyanobacteria, is considered a potentially effective biological intervention in cyanobacteria bloom. But so far research on freshwater algae has been virtually blank.
Mic1 has a head size of about 88 nanometers and a tail size of about 400 nanometers. The researchers analyzed the near-atomic resolution structure of Mic1's head using cryoelectral technology, the first three-dimensional structure of freshwater algae that clearly illustrates Mic1's head assembly mechanism.
structural analysis found that Mic1's head is assembled by the shell protein gp40 and decorative protein gp47 to form a twenty-face structure. The gp40 takes the classic phage HK97-like folding mode, forming a hexagon and hexalymer, which is further assembled to form a twenty-face head through a palate structure. Decorative protein gp47 adopts a new folding mode, anchored near the secondary axis of the twenty-sided body, further strengthening the stability of the head.
study sheds light on the assembly mechanism of algal caring, and provides theoretical guidance for subsequent algal modification and artificial synthesis, as well as the application of cyanobacteria intervention. (Source: China Science Journal)
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