An interaction between the nucleocapsid protein and a component of the replicase-transcriptase complex is crucial for the infectivity of coronavirus genomic RNA.

ABSTRACT: The coronavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein plays an essential role in virion assembly via interactions with the large, positive-strand RNA viral genome and the carboxy-terminal endodomain of the membrane protein (M). To learn about the functions of N protein domains in the coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), we replaced the MHV N gene with its counterpart from the closely related bovine coronavirus (BCoV). The resulting viral mutant was severely defective, even though individual domains of the N protein responsible for N-RNA, N-M, or N-N interactions were completely interchangeable between BCoV and MHV. The lesion in the BCoV N substitution mutant could be compensated for by reverting mutations in the central, serine- and arginine-rich (SR) domain of the N protein. Surprisingly, a secon

SUBMITTER: Hurst KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2937748 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature