Assembly of phiKZ bacteriophage Inner Body during infection

Abstract

The giant myovirus phiKZ is characterised by an Inner Body (IB) structure within its capsid, crucial for orderly DNA packaging. The IB is composed of six phiKZ-specific proteins. Notably, four of these IB proteins are co-injected with DNA into the host cell, where they potentially play a role in attacking the bacterial cell. The dynamics of IB assembling within the phiKZ capsid during infection remain poorly understood. In this study, we used fluorescent microscopy to track the localisation of IB proteins fused to fluorescent proteins within the cell throughout the infection process. Our findings reveal that the proteins Gp97 and Gp162 are incorporated into new virion heads during phage head maturation. In contrast, proteins Gp90, Gp93, and Gp95 are likely integrated into the virion shortly before the DNA packaging.