MS-based identification of proteins localized in viral factory of mimivirus

Mimivirus is a well-studied member of the family Mimiviridae which are ubiquitous in the environment. It is a fully cytoplasmic GV which is internalized into the host cell by phagocytosis. The acidic compartment of the phagosome, likely in conjugation with other unknown signals, triggers the opening of the stargate structure located at an apex of the icosahedral capsid. Once opened, the fusion of the membrane of the phagosome with the virion's internal membrane leads to the release in the cytoplasm of the core. The core contains the genome of the virus and the machinery needed to establish infection. The core consequently develops to establish a viral factory (VF), a highly dynamic and complex organelle-like structure. VF not only protects the viral DNA from cellular insults but also segregates DNA replication and transcription from translation. To identify client proteins of the viral factory, we performed co-immunoprecipitation experiments using resident protein of this strcture as baits.