Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia.
Group of Molecular Cytology of Prokaryotes and Bacterial Invasion, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg 194064, Russia.
Viruses. 2023 Oct 16;15(10):2096. doi: 10.3390/v15102096.
A nucleus-like structure composed of phage-encoded proteins and containing replicating viral DNA is formed in cells infected by jumbo bacteriophage phiKZ. The PhiKZ genes are transcribed independently from host RNA polymerase (RNAP) by two RNAPs encoded by the phage. The virion RNAP (vRNAP) transcribes early viral genes and must be injected into the cell with phage DNA. The non-virion RNAP (nvRNAP) is composed of early gene products and transcribes late viral genes. In this work, the dynamics of phage RNAPs localization during phage phiKZ infection were studied. We provide direct evidence of PhiKZ vRNAP injection in infected cells and show that it is excluded from the phage nucleus. The nvRNAP is synthesized shortly after the onset of infection and localizes in the nucleus. We propose that spatial separation of two phage RNAPs allows coordinated expression of phage genes belonging to different temporal classes.
在感染巨型噬菌体 phiKZ 的细胞中形成了一种由噬菌体编码的蛋白质组成的类核样结构，其中包含复制的病毒 DNA。PhiKZ 基因由噬菌体编码的两种 RNA 聚合酶（RNAP）独立于宿主 RNA 聚合酶（RNAP）转录。病毒粒子 RNA 聚合酶（vRNAP）转录早期病毒基因，必须与噬菌体 DNA 一起注入细胞。非病毒 RNA 聚合酶（nvRNAP）由早期基因产物组成，并转录晚期病毒基因。在这项工作中，研究了噬菌体 phiKZ 感染过程中噬菌体 RNA 聚合酶定位的动态变化。我们提供了 PhiKZ vRNAP 在感染细胞中注射的直接证据，并表明它被排除在噬菌体核之外。nvRNAP 在感染开始后不久合成，并定位于核内。我们提出，两种噬菌体 RNA 聚合酶的空间分离允许属于不同时相类别的噬菌体基因的协调表达。
