{"doi":"10.1101/2023.09.22.559000","title":"A phage nucleus-associated RNA-binding protein is required for jumbo phage infection","abstract":"Large-genome bacteriophages (jumbo phages) of the Chimalliviridae family assemble a nucleus-like compartment bounded by a protein shell that protects the replicating phage genome from host-encoded restriction enzymes and CRISPR/Cas nucleases. While the nuclear shell provides broad protection against host nucleases, it necessitates transport of mRNA out of the nucleus-like compartment for translation by host ribosomes, and transport of specific proteins into the nucleus-like compartment to support DNA replication and mRNA transcription. Here we identify a conserved phage nuclear shell-associated protein that we term Chimallin C (ChmC), which adopts a nucleic acid-binding fold, binds RNA with high affinity in vitro , and binds phage mRNAs in infected cells. ChmC also forms phase-separated condensates with RNA in vitro . Targeted knockdown of ChmC using mRNA-targeting dCas13d halts infections at an early stage. Taken together, our data suggest that the conserved ChmC protein acts as a chaperone for phage mRNAs, potentially stabilizing these mRNAs and driving their translocation through the nuclear shell to promote translation and infection progression.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2023,"id":391496,"datarank":0.31191623125197543,"base_score":2.0794415416798357,"endowment":2.0794415416798357,"self_citation_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.31191623125197543,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":7,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.949,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":809185,"name":"Emily G. Armbruster","orcid":"0000-0003-0377-1209","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":560739,"name":"Jina Lee","orcid":"0000-0002-3661-3701","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1085220,"name":"Sitao Zhang","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":43217,"name":"Brian A. Yee","orcid":"0000-0001-5615-8550","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":847688,"name":"Yajie Gu","orcid":"0000-0002-1514-1477","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":847687,"name":"Amar Deep","orcid":"0000-0003-2003-2889","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1034379,"name":"Jack T. Naritomi","orcid":"0000-0001-7746-7467","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":923707,"name":"Qishan Liang","orcid":"0000-0003-4351-3140","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":106155,"name":"Stefan Aigner","orcid":"0000-0002-9511-3328","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":556964,"name":"Benjamin A. Adler","orcid":"0000-0002-7488-3040","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":225875,"name":"Brady F. Cress","orcid":"0000-0002-2948-2846","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":2407,"name":"Jennifer A. Doudna","orcid":"0000-0001-9161-999X","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":459027,"name":"Vorrapon Chaikeeratisak","orcid":"0000-0003-2793-5394","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227272,"name":"Don W. Cleveland","orcid":"0000-0002-1934-3682","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":369191,"name":"Majid Ghassemian","orcid":"0000-0003-1026-5152","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":43290,"name":"G Yeo","orcid":null,"position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":244710,"name":"Joe Pogliano","orcid":"0000-0001-8989-2655","position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":106560,"name":"Kevin D. Corbett","orcid":"0000-0001-5854-2388","position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":735343,"name":"Eray Enüstün","orcid":"0000-0001-7550-7752","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":47,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:18:47.408273Z","pmid":"37790334","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}