N PROTEIN

N PROTEIN

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Studies of the coronavirus have largely focused on its ‘spike’ protein. A new study from IISER Bhopal has found that other proteins, in particular, the nucleocapsid or ‘N’ protein may also be responsible for the infectivity of the virus.

Concept :

Nucleocapsid Protein

• The nucleocapsid protein (N-protein) is the most abundant protein in coronavirus. The N-protein is a highly immunogenic phosphoprotein, and it is normally very conserved.
• The N protein of coronavirus is often used as a marker in diagnostic assays.
• During virion assembly, N protein binds to viral RNA and leads to formation of the helical nucleocapsid.
• The abundance and high hydrophilicity of N protein are supposed to contribute to potent immunity after coroanvirus infection.
• The N protein constitutes the only protein present in the nucleocapsid. It is composed of two separate domains, an N-terminal domain (NTD) and a C-terminal domain (CTD), both capable of binding RNA in vitro, but each domain uses different mechanisms to bind RNA.