Viruses that infect archaea represent one of the most enigmatic parts of the virosphere. Their high diversity, along with their few structural and genomic similarities with bacterial or eukaryotic viruses, suggest that the mechanisms of virus-host interactions might be also unique. Sulfurisphaera ohwakuensis Virus (SoV) infects hyperthermophilic archaea from the genus Sulfurisphaera that thrive in terrestrial hot springs with temperatures of ~80°C and pH~2-3. How the viral cycle unravels inside the host and how the virion is assembled remains a mystery. Here we study SoV’s infection cycle and the host factors involved in its replication and release. This work should provide novel insights into the unique infection cycle of SoV and uncover new aspects of virus-host interactions in archaea.
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