Noumeavirus replication relies on a transient remote control of the host nucleus

Noumeavirus replication relies on a transient remote control of the host nucleus.

Elisabeth Fabre , Sandra Jeudy , Sébastien Santini (1) , Matthieu Legendre (2) , Mathieu Trauchessec (3) , Yohann Couté (4) , Jean-Michel Claverie , Chantal Abergel (5)

1 TU Dresden - Technische Universität Dresden = Dresden University of Technology
2 Service de génétique et embryologie médicales [CHU Trousseau]
3 Hereditary Metabolic Diseases Department, East Medical Group,
4 BGE - UMR S1038 - Laboratoire de Biologie à Grande Échelle
5 IGS - Information génomique et structurale

Acanthamoeba are infected by a remarkable diversity of large dsDNA viruses, the infectious cycles of which have been characterized using genomics, transcriptomics and electron microscopy. Given their gene content and the persistence of the host nucleus throughout their infectious cycle, the Marseilleviridae were initially assumed to fully replicate in the cytoplasm. Unexpectedly, we find that their virions do not incorporate the virus-encoded transcription machinery, making their replication nucleus-dependent. However, instead of delivering their DNA to the nucleus, the Marseilleviridae initiate their replication by transiently recruiting the nuclear transcription machinery to their cytoplasmic viral factory. The nucleus recovers its integrity after becoming leaky at an early stage. This work highlights the importance of virion proteomic analyses to complement genome sequencing in the elucidation of the replication scheme and evolution of large dsDNA viruses.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology; Life Sciences [q-bio]

Elisabeth Fabre, Sandra Jeudy, Sébastien Santini, Matthieu Legendre, Mathieu Trauchessec, et al.. Noumeavirus replication relies on a transient remote control of the host nucleus. Nature Communications, 2017, 8, pp.15087. ⟨10.1038/ncomms15087⟩. ⟨hal-01534406⟩