Plasticity in structure and assembly of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.

ABSTRACT: Worldwide SARS-CoV-2 sequencing efforts track emerging mutations in its spike protein, as well as characteristic mutations in other viral proteins. Besides their epidemiological importance, the observed SARS-CoV-2 sequences present an ensemble of viable protein variants, and thereby a source of information on viral protein structure and function. Charting the mutational landscape of the nucleocapsid (N) protein that facilitates viral assembly, we observe variability exceeding that of the spike protein, with more than 86% of residues that can be substituted, on average by three to four different amino acids. However, mutations exhibit an uneven distribution that tracks known structural features but also reveals highly protected stretches of unknown function. One of these conserved regions i

SUBMITTER: Zhao H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9235412 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature