Insights into the spool-like architecture and infection strategy of an enveloped archaeal virus

Animation made by Claude (Fable 5.1) at the request of Haina Wang.

Five stages of the coil-stacking model: double-stranded DNA; VP4 dimers closing around the DNA; a continuous nucleoprotein filament; the filament coiling into a flat disk; disks stacking into a spool.

The paper

Zhang H*, Wang H*#, Li Y, Fan Y, Zhang Z, Chen H, Song K, Huang L#, Zhu P#. Insights into the spool-like architecture and infection strategy of an enveloped archaeal virus. Science Advances 11: eadv7326 (2025). doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv7326

* co-first author, # corresponding author.

In the news

Scientists Unveil Genome Architecture and Infection Strategy of Novel Enveloped Archaeal Virus
Chinese Academy of Sciences, 21 July 2025 · media contact: Institute of Biophysics, CAS