The Greek word phage means to devour. Viruse that attack and destroy or destroy bacteria are called bacteriophages. Scientist Twort discovered it. In 1915, British microbiologist Frederick Wort discovered bacteriophage or T2 phage. In 1917, scientist D. Herreli called virus that attack bacteria as bacteriophages. T2 bacteriophage is a flagellated virus. It consists of two parts. Head and tail. Dr. Siddiq Publications
1. Head: The swollen and hexagonal part of T2 bacteriophage is called head. Its length is 93-100 nm and width is 65 nm. It is covered by a bilayer coat made of proteins. The protein coat is called capsid. Each protein molecule in the capsid is called a capsomer. The number of capsomers is 2000. The interior of the capsid is hollow. The hollow part contains a ring-shaped double-stranded DNA. The DNA segment is about 5000 nanometers in length. 50% of the total weight of T2 bacteriophage is DNA. DNA is 50 µm in length. A DNA molecule consists of 60,000 pairs of nucleotides. It contains about 150 genes. DNA carries hereditary characteristics. Brain does not have cell wall, plasma membrane, mitochondria, lysosomes, ribosomes etc.
2. Tail: The narrow and cylindrical part after the tail of bacteriophage is called tail. It is soft and flexible. Its length is 95-110 nm and diameter is 15-25 nm. It is covered by a capsid made of proteins. Inside the coat is a contractile protein. Contractile proteins contain the enzyme lysozyme. The inner part of the tail is hollow. It contains no DNA. At the end of the tail is a base plate made of proteins. The base plate has 6 long and narrow tangential fibers and several spikes or spines. Tactile fibers help bacteria move. Bacteria stick to host cells with the help of spikes or thorns. At the junction of the head and tail is a collar made of protein.
Tail does not contain cell wall, plasma membrane, mitochondria, lysosomes, ribosomes etc.
Bacteriophage T2 is one of the most well-known of the flagellar viruses. Most of the research has been done on this topic. In 1917, scientist De Herreli named this virus as bacteriophage or phage. Dr. Siddiq Publications