The Putative Packaging ATPase of Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus Is an Essential Protein That Interacts With the Genome Segregation and Packaging Machinery.

Giant viruses are hypothesized to utilize the FtsK/HerA type ATP-driven motor to package the genome during the virus assembly. Previously, we reported the presence of several recombinases and topoisomerase II in Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APMV) that could potentially work in concert with the vaccinia virus (VV) A32-like packaging motor to facilitate segregation of the genome and its packaging in giant viruses. In the present study, we have identified the interaction network among the probable components of the APMV segro-packasome machinery, namely, two paralogous packaging motors, three paralogous recombinases, and a topoisomerase II using yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays.