Biochemical analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp13 helicase implicated in COVID-19 and factors that regulate its catalytic functions.

ABSTRACT: Replication of the 30-kilobase genome of SARS-CoV-2, responsible for COVID-19, is a key step in the coronavirus life cycle that requires a set of virally encoded nonstructural proteins such as the highly conserved Nsp13 helicase. However, the features that contribute to catalytic properties of Nsp13 are not well established. Here, we biochemically characterized the purified recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Nsp13 helicase protein, focusing on its catalytic functions, nucleic acid substrate specificity, nucleotide/metal cofactor requirements, and displacement of proteins from RNA molecules proposed to be important for its proofreading role during coronavirus replication. We determined that Nsp13 preferentially interacts with single-stranded DNA compared with single-stranded RNA to unwind a partial dup

SUBMITTER: Sommers JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9897874 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature