Molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein

Yanping Huang; Junkai Chen; Siwei Chen; Congcong Huang; Bei Li; Jian Li; Zhixiong Jin; Qiwei Zhang; Pan Pan; Weixing Du; Long Liu; Zhixin Liu

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2024.1415885

Molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2024 May 23:14:1415885. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1415885. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yanping Huang^{1

2}, Junkai Chen^{1

2}, Siwei Chen^{1

2}, Congcong Huang^{1

2}, Bei Li^{1

2

3}, Jian Li^{1

2

3}, Zhixiong Jin^{1

2

3}, Qiwei Zhang⁴, Pan Pan⁵, Weixing Du¹, Long Liu^{1

2

3}, Zhixin Liu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Renmin Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
² Shiyan Key Laboratory of Virology, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
³ Hubei Key Laboratory of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
⁴ Central Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Virology, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly prevalent and potent infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until now, the world is still endeavoring to develop new ways to diagnose and treat COVID-19. At present, the clinical prevention and treatment of COVID-19 mainly targets the spike protein on the surface of SRAS-CoV-2. However, with the continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of concern (VOC), targeting the spike protein therapy shows a high degree of limitation. The Nucleocapsid Protein (N protein) of SARS-CoV-2 is highly conserved in virus evolution and is involved in the key process of viral infection and assembly. It is the most expressed viral structural protein after SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans and has high immunogenicity. Therefore, N protein as the key factor of virus infection and replication in basic research and clinical application has great potential research value. This article reviews the research progress on the structure and biological function of SARS-CoV-2 N protein, the diagnosis and drug research of targeting N protein, in order to promote researchers' further understanding of SARS-CoV-2 N protein, and lay a theoretical foundation for the possible outbreak of new and sudden coronavirus infectious diseases in the future.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; clinical application; diagnostics; nucleocapsid protein.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / diagnosis
COVID-19* / virology
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins* / chemistry
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins* / genetics
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins* / metabolism
Humans
Nucleocapsid Proteins / genetics
Nucleocapsid Proteins / metabolism
Phosphoproteins* / metabolism
SARS-CoV-2* / genetics
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / chemistry
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / metabolism

Substances

Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
nucleocapsid phosphoprotein, SARS-CoV-2
Phosphoproteins
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
Nucleocapsid Proteins

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the Knowledge Innovation Program of Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province (2023BCB058), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2023AFB855, 2022CFB324) and Principal Investigator Program at Hubei University of Medicine (HBMUPI202102). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, or manuscript preparation.