SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein phase-separates with RNA and with human hnRNPs.

ABSTRACT: Tightly packed complexes of nucleocapsid protein and genomic RNA form the core of viruses and assemble within viral factories, dynamic compartments formed within the host cells associated with human stress granules. Here, we test the possibility that the multivalent RNA-binding nucleocapsid protein (N) from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) condenses with RNA via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) and that N protein can be recruited in phase-separated forms of human RNA-binding proteins associated with SG formation. Robust LLPS with RNA requires two intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), the N-terminal IDR and central-linker IDR, as well as the folded C-terminal oligomerization domain, while the folded N-terminal domain and the C-terminal IDR are not require

SUBMITTER: Perdikari TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7737613 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature