The assembly of λ tail requires the action of 11 gene products which must interact in an organized fashion to assemble infectious tail particles. GpL is an essential protein for the formation of the tail tip complex and necessary for the assembly of λ tail. The work described here has shown that gpL and its homologues contain two domains where the C-terminal domain coordinates an oxygen-sensitive [4Fe-4S] 2+ cluster using 4 highly conserved cysteines. This is the first report of a bacteriophage morphogenetic protein to coordinate a [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster. Through two individual cysteine mutants, C184A and C228A, it was determined that these mutant proteins coordinate a [2Fe-2S]2+ cluster also using 4 cysteines; the fourth cysteine being non-conserved. λ tails assembled with cysteine mutant gpL resulted in a 1000-fold decrease in the titer of active tails and tail particles could not be detected by TEM indicating that λ tails cannot be assembled with cysteine mutant gpL. I propose that the coordination of a [4Fe-4S] cluster with the four conserved cysteines maintains a conformation in gpL that can optimally interact with other tail proteins for efficient tail assembly.

The assembly of λ tail requires the action of 11 gene products which must interact in an organized fashion to assemble infectious tail particles. GpL is an essential protein for the formation of the tail tip complex and necessary for the assembly of λ tail. The work described here has shown that gpL and its homologues contain two domains where the C-terminal domain coordinates an oxygen-sensitive [4Fe-4S] 2+ cluster using 4 highly conserved cysteines. This is the first report of a bacteriophage morphogenetic protein to coordinate a [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster. Through two individual cysteine mutants, C184A and C228A, it was determined that these mutant proteins coordinate a [2Fe-2S]2+ cluster also using 4 cysteines; the fourth cysteine being non-conserved. λ tails assembled with cysteine mutant gpL resulted in a 1000-fold decrease in the titer of active tails and tail particles could not be detected by TEM indicating that λ tails cannot be assembled with cysteine mutant gpL. I propose that the coordination of a [4Fe-4S] cluster with the four conserved cysteines maintains a conformation in gpL that can optimally interact with other tail proteins for efficient tail assembly.