Architecture and self-assembly of the jumbo phage nucleus-like compartment

“Jumbo phages” are an emergent and ubiquitous class of large (>200 kb) dsDNA bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—that construct a selectively-permeable, proteinaceous compartment around their replicating genome during infection. This micron-scale compartment, termed the “phage nucleus”, forms de novo grows with viral DNA. The phage nucleus allows export mRNA import select DNA replication transcription proteins, while excluding host ribosomes restriction enzymes such as CRISPR-Cas.