Fine-tuned spatiotemporal dynamics of DNA replication during phage lambda infection

After the ejection of viral DNA into the host cytoplasm, the temperate bacteriophage (phage) lambda integrates a cascade of expressions from various regulatory genes, coupled with DNA replication, to commit to a decision between lysis and lysogeny. Higher multiplicity of infection (MOI) greatly shifts the decision toward the lysogenic pathway. However, how the phage separates the MOI from replicated viral DNA during lysis-lysogeny decision-making is unclear. To quantitatively understand the role of viral DNA replication, we constructed a reporter system facilitating the visualization of individual copies of phage DNA throughout the phage life cycle, along with the lysis-lysogeny reporters. We showed that intracellular viral DNA diverges between the lytic and lysogenic pathways from the early phase of the infection cycle, mostly due to the synchronization and success of DNA injection, as well as the competition for replication resources, rather than the replication rate. Strikingly, we observed two distinct replication patterns during lysogenization and surprisingly heterogeneous integration kinetics, which advances our understanding of temperate phage life cycles. We revealed that the weak repression function of Cro is critical for an optimal replication rate and plays a crucial role in establishing stable lysogens.

Temperate bacteriophages, such as lambda, incorporate environmental cues including host abundance and nutrient conditions to make optimal decisions between propagation and dormancy. A higher phage-to-host ratio or multiplicity of infection (MOI) during λ infection strongly biases toward lysogeny. However, a comprehensive understanding of this decision-making process and the impact of phage replication prior to the decision is yet to be achieved. Here, we used fluorescence microscopy to quantitatively track the spatiotemporal progression of viral DNA replication in individual cells with different cell fates. The implementation of this fluorescent reporter system and quantitative analysis workflow opens a new avenue for future studies to delve deeper into various types of virus-host interactions at a high resolution.