Publikation

Selective replication of coronavirus genomes that express nucleocapsid protein

Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review - 01.06.2005

Bereiche
PubMed
DOI

Zitation
Schelle B, Karl N, Ludewig B, Siddell S, Thiel V. Selective replication of coronavirus genomes that express nucleocapsid protein. Journal of virology 2005; 79:6620-30.
Art
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review (Englisch)
Zeitschrift
Journal of virology 2005; 79
Veröffentlichungsdatum
01.06.2005
ISSN (Druck)
0022-538X
Seiten
6620-30
Kurzbeschreibung/Zielsetzung

The coronavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein is a structural protein that forms a ribonucleoprotein complex with genomic RNA. In addition to its structural role, it has been described as an RNA-binding protein that might be involved in coronavirus RNA synthesis. Here, we report a reverse genetic approach to elucidate the role of N in coronavirus replication and transcription. We found that human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) vector RNAs that lack the N gene were greatly impaired in their ability to replicate, whereas the transcription of subgenomic mRNA from these vectors was easily detectable. In contrast, vector RNAs encoding a functional N protein were able to carry out both replication and transcription. Furthermore, modification of the transcription signal required for the synthesis of N protein mRNAs in the HCoV-229E genome resulted in the selective replication of genomes that are able to express the N protein. This genetic evidence leads us to conclude that at least one coronavirus structural protein, the N protein, is involved in coronavirus replication.