2025-04-02 カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校
<関連情報>
- https://today.ucsd.edu/story/virus-infects-cells-with-a-protective-cloaking-mechanism
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312825000885
細胞膜とタンパク質が結合した小器官がファージ感染時にゲノムを区画化することを発見 Sequential membrane- and protein-bound organelles compartmentalize genomes during phage infection
Emily G. Armbruster, Phoolwanti Rani, Jina Lee, Niklas Klusch, Joshua Hutchings, Lizbeth Y. Hoffman, Hannah Buschkaemper, Eray Enustun, Benjamin A. Adler, Koe Inlow, Arica R. VanderWal, Madelynn Y. Hoffman, Daksh Daksh, Ann Aindow, Amar Deep, Zaida K. Rodriguez, Chase J. Morgan, Majid Ghassemian, Thomas G. Laughlin, Emeric Charles…Joe Pogliano
Cell Host & Microbe Published: March 31, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2025.03.005
Graphical abstract
Highlights
- The phage nucleus is essential for Chimalliviridae genome replication
- The phage nucleus is preceded by the early phage infection (EPI) vesicle
- The EPI vesicle is a transcriptionally active, membrane-bound organelle
Summary
Many eukaryotic viruses require membrane-bound compartments for replication, but no such organelles are known to be formed by prokaryotic viruses. Bacteriophages of the Chimalliviridae family sequester their genomes within a phage-generated organelle, the phage nucleus, which is enclosed by a lattice of the viral protein ChmA. We show that inhibiting phage nucleus formation arrests infections at an early stage in which the injected phage genome is enclosed within a membrane-bound early phage infection (EPI) vesicle. Early phage genes are expressed from the EPI vesicle, demonstrating its functionality as a prokaryotic, transcriptionally active, membrane-bound organelle. We also show that the phage nucleus is essential, with genome replication beginning after the injected DNA is transferred from the EPI vesicle to the phage nucleus. Our results show that Chimalliviridae require two sophisticated subcellular compartments of distinct compositions and functions that facilitate successive stages of the viral life cycle.
