title: Peptide domain involved in the interaction between membrane protein and nucleocapsid protein of SARS-associated coronavirus.
abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease associated with a novel coronavirus (CoV) that was identified and molecularly characterized in 2003. Previous studies on various coronaviruses indicate that protein-protein interactions amongst various coronavirus proteins are critical for viral assembly and morphogenesis. It is necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanism of SARS-CoV replication and rationalize the anti-SARS therapeutic intervention. In this study, we employed an in vitro GST pull-down assay to investigate the interaction between the membrane (M) and the nucleocapsid (N) proteins. Our results show that the interaction between the M and N proteins does take place in vitro. Moreover, we provide an evidence that 12 amino acids domain (194-205) in the M protein is responsible for binding to N protein. Our work will help shed light on the molecular mechanism of the virus assembly and provide valuable information pertaining to rationalization of future anti-viral strategies.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China.
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Linbai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Khalid Amine
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Timani
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yingchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zen
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhenghui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000086862:Coronavirus M Proteins; D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D000086862:Coronavirus M Proteins; D000086462:Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins; C000706237:M protein, SARS-CoV; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D005982:Glutathione Transferase