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A multimeric pore complex in the poxvirus core revealed by integrative structural analysis
Jiasui Liu (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics), Simon Schäfer (Paul Ehrlich Institut), Svenja Lehnung (Paul Ehrlich Institut), Lukas Max Baumann (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie), Lars Mühlberg (Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie), Cornelia Steiner (Paul Ehrlich Institut), Markus Schreiber (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics), Mark Linder (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics), Sonja Welsch (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics), Fan Liu (Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin), Boris Bogdanow (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie), Jacomina Krijnse Locker (Paul Ehrlich Institut), Beata Turoňová (Goethe University Frankfurt, Max Planck Institute of Biophysics)
Abstract: It has long been known that poxviruses transcribe more than a hundred early mRNAs within their viral core, yet how these transcripts exit the core remains unknown. Here, we combine cryo-electron tomography with deep-learning-based particle picking, subtomogram averaging, cross-linking mass spectrometry, and AlphaFold3 modeling to resolve the molecular architecture of a long-sought pore within the poxvirus core. The pore is formed by a heteromeric assembly of the viral proteins E8, E6, and L3, which together create a hollow hexameric tube spanning both the core wall and the surface-exposed palisade layer. Within the pore channel, we observe a rod-like density consistent with the viral RNA helicase I8, which may contribute to the release of the newly synthesized viral mRNAs from the core. We further observe a state of the pore lacking the outer and basal rings under transcription conditions. Together, our findings identify the structure and dynamics of a candidate mRNA-release pore within the surface layer of a double-stranded DNA virus and suggest that it may form part of the poxvirus transcription machinery.