๐Ÿ”ฌ Holin

A protein produced especially by tailed phages that controls the timing of phage-infection lysis.

by Stephen T. Abedon Ph.D. (abedon.1@osu.edu)

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About this entry: Holin is one of a growing set of phage biology and phage therapy terms defined here. For more phage terms, see Abedon, S.T. (2025). Phage Therapy Annotated Glossary. Preprints.org. 10.20944/preprints202508.0347.v1

phage.org/terms/holin.html  ·  Abedon’s Books  ·  DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20173633

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Holin: A protein produced especially by tailed phages that controls the timing of phage-infection lysis.

Discussion

<p>Holins are named after an ability to form "holes" in bacterial plasma membranes, thereby allowing endolysin to translocate from within the bacterial cytoplasm, where endolysis is produced, to the bacterial cell wall. Not all holins, however, function in precisely this manner.

Numerous reviews of holin function have been authored by Ry Young including Young (1992), Young and Bläsi (1995), Young (2005), and Young and Wang (2006).

External links

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References

How to cite this page

Abedon, S.T. (2026). Phage Terms. https://terms.phage.org  ·  10.5281/zenodo.20173633

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Holin — terms.phage.org — phage.org — Stephen T. Abedon — Version 2026.05.14