Architecture and self-assembly of the jumbo phage nucleus-like compartment

Abstract

“Jumbo phages” are an emergent and ubiquitous class of large (>200 kb) dsDNA bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—that construct a selectively-permeable, proteinaceous compartment around their replicating genome during infection. This micron-scale compartment, termed the “phage nucleus”, forms de novo and grows with the replicating viral DNA. The phage nucleus allows export of viral mRNA and import of select DNA replication and transcription proteins, while excluding host ribosomes and restriction enzymes such as CRISPR-Cas.