Structure Prediction of Complexes Controlling Beta- and Gamma-Herpesvirus Late Transcription Using AlphaFold 3

All beta- and gamma-herpesviruses utilize a set of six viral proteins to facilitate transcription from specific promoters that become active late in the viral life cycle. These proteins form a complex that interacts with a TA-rich sequence upstream of the late transcription start sites and recruits RNA polymerase II (Pol II). The structure of any of the late transcription factors (LTFs) alone or in complexes has not been solved by standard means yet, but a fair amount is known about how the proteins interact and where the complex is positioned over the late promoters. Here, AlphaFold3 was used to predict and analyze the LTF complex using proteins from the beta-herpesviruses HCMV, MCMV, HHV6, and HHV7, and from the gamma-herpesviruses EBV and KSHV. The predicted structures had high levels of confidence and were remarkably similar even though there is little sequence conservation in the LTFs across the viruses. The results are consistent with most of the previously determined information concerning the interaction of the factors with each other and with DNA. A conserved threonine phosphorylation in one of the subunits that is critical to the function of the LTFs is predicted to be at the junction of five subunits. AlphaFold 3 predicts seven metal ion binding sites in each of the four beta-herpesviruses and either five or six in the gamma-herpesviruses created by conserved residues in three of the subunits. The structures also provide insights into the function of the subunits and which host general transcription factors (GTFs) may or may not be utilized during initiation.