Degradation of host peptidoglycans during virus entry (kw:KW-1236)

Exolysin are viral lytic enzymes allowing digestion of bacterial cell wall upon virus entry. This activity is necessary for the virus to reach the host plasma membrane and inject its DNA in the host cytoplasm. The degradation is local, the virion drills a hole large enough to have its tail or capsid pass the wall.

Depending on the enzymatic specificity, exolysins are divided into five main classes.

Virus	family	Host bacteria	phage enzyme	ref.
Phage GA-1	Podoviridae	Bacillus G1R	gp3
Phage SPβ	Siphoviridae	Bacillus subtilis	YomI
Phage SPO1	Myoviridae	Bacillus subtilis	-
Phage SPP1	Siphoviridae	Bacillus subtilis	-
Phage M2	Podoviridae	Bacillus subtilis	gp3
Phage φ29	Podoviridae	Bacillus subtilis	gp3
Phage PRD1	Tectiviridae	Escherichia coli	p7
Phage T3	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	gp16
Phage K1-5	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	orf35
Phage N4	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	-
Phage T4	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	gp5
Phage T5	Siphoviridae	Escherichia coli	Pb2
Phage C1	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	-
Phage φ949	Unclassified	Lactococcus lactis	-
Phage φ31	Siphoviridae	Lactococcus lactis	-
Phage φc2	Myoviridae	Lactococcus lactis	-
Phage φr1t	Unclassified	Lactococcus lactis	-
Phage φ6	Cystoviridae	Pseudomonas syringae	P5
Phage φ13	Cystoviridae	Pseudomonas syringae	-
Phage SP6	Podoviridae	Salmonella typhimurium	orf35
Phage φP22	Podoviridae	Salmonella typhimurium	gp4
Phage φYeO3-12	Podoviridae	Yersinia enterocolitica	gp16
Phage φKMV	Podoviridae	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	gp36
Phage φKZ	Myoviridae	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	gp181
Phage T7	Podoviridae	Escherichia coli	gp16