Summary information and primary citation

PDB-id
8que; SNAP-derived features in text and JSON formats; DNAproDB
Class
RNA binding protein
Method
cryo-EM (3.3 Å)
Summary
Structure of the bacteriophage phikz non-virion RNA polymerase bound to DNA and RNA
Reference
de Martin Garrido N, Chen CS, Ramlaul K, Aylett CHS, Yakunina M (2024): "Structure of the Bacteriophage PhiKZ Non-virion RNA Polymerase Transcribing from its Promoter p119L." J.Mol.Biol., 436, 168713. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168713.
Abstract
Bacteriophage ΦKZ (phiKZ) is the founding member of a family of giant bacterial viruses. It has potential as a therapeutic as its host, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, kills tens of thousands of people worldwide each year. ΦKZ infection is independent of the host transcriptional apparatus; the virus forms a "nucleus", producing a proteinaceous barrier around the ΦKZ genome that excludes the host immune systems. It expresses its own non-canonical multi-subunit non-virion RNA polymerase (nvRNAP), which is imported into its "nucleus" to transcribe viral genes. The ΦKZ nvRNAP is formed by four polypeptides representing homologues of the eubacterial β/β' subunits, and a fifth that is likely to have evolved from an ancestral homologue to σ-factor. We have resolved the structure of the ΦKZ nvRNAP initiating transcription from its cognate promoter, p119L, including previously disordered domains and regions. Our results shed light on the similarities and differences between ΦKZ nvRNAP mechanisms of transcription and those of canonical eubacterial RNAPs and the related non-canonical nvRNAP of bacteriophage AR9.

Cartoon-block schematics in six views (download the tarball)

PyMOL session file Download PDB file View in 3Dmol.js