Viral long flexible tail ejection system (kw:KW-1243)
The long and flexible tail of Siphoviridae acts as a molecular machine that ejects the viral DNA from the capsid into the host cell cytoplasm. The ejection system consists of a baseplate, a central tube and a terminator complex which attaches the tail to the phage capsid 
.
Upon binding to the host cell surface, the baseplate changes its conformation and triggers genome ejection into the host cell cytoplasm.
The source of the forces that drive viral genome ejection is probably in part due to osmotic pressure imbalance between the virus inside and the host cytoplasm .
Gram(-) hosts:
- Attachment to a host cell outer membrane (OM) receptor.
- Tail tip penetrates into host OM. Virion-associated exolysin (if present) hydrolyzes the peptidoglycan layer.
- Tail reaches host plasma membrane. Possible loss of tail tip.
- Creation (fusogenic activity?) or use of a hydrophilic pore for viral DNA translocation into host cytoplasm.
Gram(+) hosts:
- Attachment to a host cell wall receptor.
- Tip-associated hydrolysis of the peptidoglycan layer.
- Tail reaches host plasma membrane. Possible loss of tail tip. Opening of the cap.
- Creation (fusogenic activity?) or use of a hydrophilic pore for viral DNA translocation into host cytoplasm.
Alan R Davidson, Lia Cardarelli, Lisa G Pell, Devon R Radford, Karen L Maxwell
Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 2012; 726: 115-142
Molineux IJ, Panja D
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2013 Mar;11(3):194-204
Matching UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot entries
(all links/actions below point to uniprot.org website)46 entries grouped by protein
3 entries
Distal tail protein (Dit) (Gene product 15) (Gp15)
1 entry
Tail spike protein (TSP) (Gene product 21) (Gp21)
2 entries
Baseplate protein gp16 (Exolysin) (Gene product 16) (Gp16) (Tail lysozyme-like) (Tail-associated lysine-like protein)
1 entry
Head completion protein gp6 (Connector protein gp6) (Gene product 6) (Gp6)
1 entry
Head completion protein gp7 (Connector protein gp7) (Gene product 7) (Gp7) (Stopper protein gp7)
2 entries
Probable head completion protein 1 (HCP1) (Connector protein gp8)
1 entry
Head completion protein gp15 (HCP) (Connector protein gp15) (Gene product 15) (Gp15)
1 entry
Head completion protein gp16 (Connector protein gp16) (Gene product 16) (Gp16) (Stopper protein gp16)
2 entries
Probable head completion protein 2 (Connector protein gp9) (Gene product 9) (gp9) (Putative stopper protein gp9) (Stopper protein gp9)
11 entries
Portal protein (Gene product 14) (gp14) (Portal vertex protein)
2 entries
Tip attachment protein J (Central tail fiber) (CTF) (gpJ protein)
2 entries
Tail tip protein L
2 entries
Tail tip protein M
6 entries
Probable tape measure protein (TMP) (Transglycosylase) (EC 4.2.2.n1)
3 entries
Tail tube terminator protein (TrP) (Gene product 12) (gp12) (Tail-to-head joining protein) (THJP)
6 entries