The ϕPA3 phage nucleus is enclosed by a self-assembling 2D crystalline lattice.

To protect themselves from host attack, numerous jumbo bacteriophages establish a phage nucleus-a micron-scale, proteinaceous structure encompassing the replicating phage DNA. Bacteriophage and host proteins associated with replication and transcription are concentrated inside the phage nucleus while other phage and host proteins are excluded, including CRISPR-Cas and restriction endonuclease host defense systems. Here, we show that nucleus fragments isolated from ϕPA3 infected Pseudomonas aeruginosa form a 2-dimensional lattice, having p2 or p4 symmetry. We further demonstrate that recombinantly purified primary Phage Nuclear Enclosure (PhuN) protein spontaneously assembles into similar 2D sheets with p2 and p4 symmetry. We resolve the dominant p2 symmetric state to 3.9 Šby cryo-EM. Our structure reveals a two-domain core, organized into quasi-symmetric tetramers. Flexible loops and termini mediate adaptable inter-tetramer contacts that drive subunit assembly into a lattice and enable the adoption of different symmetric states. While the interfaces between subunits are mostly well packed, two are open, forming channels that likely have functional implications for the transport of proteins, mRNA, and small molecules.

A bacteriophage nucleus-like compartment shields DNA from CRISPR nucleases.

All viruses require strategies to inhibit or evade the immune pathways of cells that they infect. The viruses that infect bacteria, bacteriophages (phages), must avoid immune pathways that target nucleic acids, such as CRISPR-Cas and restriction-modification systems, to replicate efficiently1. Here we show that jumbo phage ΦKZ segregates its DNA from immunity nucleases of its host, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, by constructing a proteinaceous nucleus-like compartment. ΦKZ is resistant to many immunity mechanisms that target DNA in vivo, including two subtypes of CRISPR-Cas3, Cas9, Cas12a and the restriction enzymes HsdRMS and EcoRI. Cas proteins and restriction enzymes are unable to access the phage DNA throughout the infection, but engineering the relocalization of EcoRI inside the compartment enables targeting of the phage and protection of host cells. Moreover, ΦKZ is sensitive to Cas13a-a CRISPR-Cas enzyme that targets RNA-probably owing to phage mRNA localizing to the cytoplasm. Collectively, we propose that Pseudomonas jumbo phages evade a broad spectrum of DNA-targeting nucleases through the assembly of a protein barrier around their genome.