Fig. 6: Comparison of the pre- and post-ejection states.

Reconstructions of the pre-ejection state are shown in gray, while those of the post-ejection state are shown in yellow. a Neck (portal interface) density map. Densities for the tape measure protein (TMP) N-terminus and DNA are absent in the reconstruction of post-ejection phages. b Tail tip density map. The TMP C-terminus density is present in both states, but the density in the channel is not visible in phages after ejection. The scale bars represent lengths of 150 Å (a) and 100 Å (b).