Evolutionarily conserved grammar rules viral factories of amoeba-infecting members of the hyperdiverse Nucleocytoviricota phylum

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rigou, Sofia; Schmitt, Alain; Moreno, Anaisa B.; Lartigue, Audrey; Danner, Lucile; Mayer, Lotte; Giry, Claire; Trabelsi, Feres; Belmudes, Lucid; Olivero-Deibe, Natalia; Le Guenno, Hugo; Coute, Yohann; Berois, Mabel; Legendre, Matthieu; Jeudy, Sandra; Abergel, Chantal; Bisio, Hugo
• 署名单位: Aix-Marseille Universite; University of Vienna; CEA; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Communaute Universite Grenoble Alpes; Universite Grenoble Alpes (UGA); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Pasteur Network; Institut Pasteur de Montevideo; Aix-Marseille Universite; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-8434
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2515074122
• 发表日期: 2025-09-02
• 关键词: proteomic characterization; protein; replication; sequence; mimivirus; RESOURCES; viruses; hub

摘要

Despite sharing fewer than 10 core genes, the hyperdiverse Nucleocytoviricota phylum (ranging from poxviruses to giant viruses) universally assembles viral factories (VFs) resembling biomolecular condensates. Regardless, it is unclear how these viruses achieve such a level of functional conservation without clear conserved genetic information. We demonstrate that the VFs produced by amoeba- infecting viruses have liquid- like properties and identify a conserved molecular grammar governing viral factory scaffold protein: charge- patterned intrinsically disordered regions that drive phase separation independently of sequence homology. This grammar predicts functional scaffold proteins across the 15 viral families, revealing evolutionary constraints invisible to sequence or structural analysis. Strikingly, VFs exhibit subcompartmentalization analogous to nuclei, segregating transcription and mRNA processing (inner condensates) from replication (interphase zones) and translation (host cytoplasm). Our work establishes phase separation as a fundamental organizational principle bridging extreme genomic diversity, explaining how biological complexity emerges without gene conservation. This grammar is likely also conserved in non- amoeba- infecting members of the phylum and thus may represent a primordial solution for organelle- like organization, with broad implications for antiviral targeting.