The Dynamics of Synthesis and Localization of Jumbo Phage RNA Polymerases inside Infected Cells
Daria Antonova,
Viktoriia V. Belousova,
Erik Zhivkoplias,
Mariia Sobinina,
Tatyana Artamonova,
Innokentii E. Vishnyakov,
Inna Kurdyumova,
Anatoly Arseniev,
Natalia Morozova,
Konstantin Severinov,
Mikhail Khodorkovskii,
Maria V. Yakunina
Affiliations
Daria Antonova
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Viktoriia V. Belousova
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Erik Zhivkoplias
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Mariia Sobinina
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Tatyana Artamonova
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Innokentii E. Vishnyakov
Group of Molecular Cytology of Prokaryotes and Bacterial Invasion, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg 194064, Russia
Inna Kurdyumova
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Anatoly Arseniev
Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119334, Russia
Natalia Morozova
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Konstantin Severinov
Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Institute of Gene Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119334, Russia
Mikhail Khodorkovskii
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
Maria V. Yakunina
Research Center of Nanobiotechnologies, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg 195251, Russia
A nucleus-like structure composed of phage-encoded proteins and containing replicating viral DNA is formed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa 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.
