Li Yuping,1,7,* Linlin Guan,2 Isabelle Becher,3 Kira S. Makarova,4 Xueli Cao,2 Surabhi Hareendranath,1 Jingwen Guan,1 Frank Stein,3 Siqi Yang,2 Arne Boergel,3 Karine Lapouge,3 Kim Remans,3 David Agard,5 Mikhail Savitski,3 Athanasios Typas,3 Eugene V. Koonin,4 Yue Feng,2,* and Joseph Bondy-Denomy1,6,8,*

1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94403, USA

2 State Key Laboratory of Green Biomanufacturing, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

3 European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

4 Computational Biology Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA

5 The Chan-Zuckerberg Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging and the Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA

6 Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94403, USA

7 Present address: Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel 4056, Switzerland

8 Lead contact

*Correspondence: 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (L.Y.), 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (Y.F.), 该Email地址已收到反垃圾邮件插件保护。要显示它您需要在浏览器中启用JavaScript。 (J.B.-D.)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.016

SUMMARY

Jumbo bacteriophages of the fKZ-like family assemble a lipid-based early phage infection (EPI) vesicle and a proteinaceous nucleus-like structure during infection. These structures protect the phage from nucleases and may create selective pressure for immunity mechanisms targeting this specific phage family. Here, we identify ‘‘jumbo phage killer’’ (Juk), a two-component immune system that terminates infection of fKZ-like phages, suppressing the expression of early phage genes and preventing phage DNA replication and phage nucleus assembly while saving the cell. JukA (formerly YaaW) rapidly senses the EPI vesicle by binding to an early-expressed phage protein, gp241, and then directly recruits JukB. The JukB effector structurally resembles a pore-forming toxin and destabilizes the EPI vesicle. Functional anti-fKZ JukA homologs are found across bacterial phyla, associated with diverse effectors. These findings reveal a widespread defense system that specifically targets early events executed by fKZ-like jumbo phages prior to phage nucleus assembly.