Liquid-liquid phase separation drives herpesvirus assembly in the cytoplasm

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as a fundamental mechanism to compartmentalize biomolecules into membraneless organelles. In this issue, Zhou et al. (2022. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202201088), report that MHV-68 ORF52 undergoes LLPS to form cytoplasmic virion assembly compartments, regulating the spatiotemporal compartmentalization of viral components.