The infection cycle of the haloarchaeal virus HFTV1 is tightly regulated and strongly inhibits motility of its host

Although viruses have been shown to infect all domains of life, our understanding of the genetic program behind the exploitation of host resources to produce progeny virions is thus far limited to several bacterial viruses. Therefore, to elucidate the transcriptome of euryarchaeal viruses and their hosts, we employed RNAseq analysis of samples taken at different time points from Haloferax gibbonsii LR2-5 cultures infected with the lytic model virus Haloferax Tailed Virus 1 (HFTV1). While following the transcription of viral genes throughout the infective life cycle, we observed a tight temporal regulation of viral transcripts as well as differential expression from within viral gene clusters. Furthermore, anti-sense RNAs (asRNAs) appear to play an important role in support of the timing of late-expressed viral genes. Therefore, with many differentially expressed transcripts, including intragenic transcripts and asRNAs, the regulatory machinery employed by HFTV1 contrasts with viral model systems (based on phages), in which antitermination and/or alternative polymerases (seemingly lacking in HFTV1) are more widespread. When looking into differentially expressed host genes, we observed a strong downregulation of genes involved in motility, such as the archaellum and chemotaxis machinery, which was confirmed with swimming assays of HFTV1 infected cells. This might be a strategy of the virus to redirect energy flowing into movement towards the production of virions. In conclusion, this work thus provides a stepping stone for further exploration of the intriguing strategies of viral transcriptional regulation of their infection cycle across the domains of life.