Evolutionarily conserved grammar rules viral factories of amoeba-infecting members of the hyperdiverse <i>Nucleocytoviricota</i> phylum.

ABSTRACT: 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 ana

SUBMITTER: Rigou S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12415211 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature