<img src=”https://naked-science.ru/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Jumbo-Phage-Infects-a-Bacterium-0-26-screenshot-1.png” alt=”Jumbo phage stole proteins from a bacterium for its “core””/>Bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacteria — have acquired many ingenious adaptations to life inside a cell. Jumbo phages stand out among them for their record-breaking sizes — both of the viral particle and of the genome. “Elephant” viruses have even acquired a structure similar to the eukaryotic nucleus, which stores genetic material. The authors of a new article in Nature have learned how such a “core” imports proteins necessary for the virus from the bacterial cytoplasm.