ArticleCell2026
Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life.
Article in Cell, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Infection cycles of viruses of the phylum Nucleocytoviricota.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Why did some viruses evolve to be giants while others did not?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Mycodnaviridae is a clade of giant viruses that persistently infect zoosporic fungi.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Ten quick tips for classifying unknown bacteriophage.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Giant viruses rewire control of cellular protein synthesis.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
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8 authors.
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Abstract
In contrast to living organisms, viruses were long thought to lack protein synthesis machinery and instead depend on host factors to translate viral transcripts. Here, we discover that giant DNA viruses encode a distinct and functional IF4F translation-initiation complex to drive protein synthesis, thereby blurring the line between cellular and acellular biology. During infection, eukaryotic IF4F on host ribosomes is replaced by an essential viral IF4F that regulates viral translation, virion formation, and replication plasticity during altered host states. Structural dissection of viral IF4F reveals that the mRNA cap-binding subunit mediates exclusive interactions with viral mRNAs, constituting a molecular switch from translating host to viral proteins. Thus, our study establishes that viruses express a eukaryotic translation-initiation complex for protein synthesis, illuminating a series of evolutionary innovations in a core process of life.
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