∞ generated and posted on 2022.02.05 ∞
Likelihood of phage virion attachment given virion encounter with a susceptible bacterium.
| Adsorption Affinity is a function of how well virion proteins employed for initiating adsorption are able to physically interact with specific receptor molecules associated with bacterial surfaces. |
Adsorption affinity is one component of the phage adsorption rate constant, the other two being rates of phage virion diffusion, which determines how fast a virion can travel to the vicinity of a bacterium, and bacterial target size, which defines the likelihood of phage-bacterium collision given their approximate co-location.
The affinity that a phage has for the surface of a bacterium can be further subdivided into three components: (i) the phage ability to interact with and attach to the phage receptor molecules given collision of that molecule with the appropriate phage adsorption protein, (ii) the density of the phage receptor molecules found on the surface of a bacterium (since a phage has to collide with a receptor molecule to interact with it and likelihood of collision increases the more of something there is to collide with), and (iii) the degree to which the receptor molecule is not hidden such as under extracellular polymeric substances.
See also adsorption efficiency.
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