Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Coronaviruses are capable of inducing diverse infectious diseases that pose significant threats to the public health and the economic development. With a single positive-stranded RNA genome, coronaviruses utilize viral proteins to execute diverse immune escape strategies to facilitate their replication. Of all the identified structural proteins and non-structural proteins within the coronaviruses, nucleocapsid (N) protein is highly conserved and is the most abundant viral protein in infected host cells. N protein regulates the more complex and diverse mechanisms through which viruses suppress host immunity. In this review, we analyzed the basic structure of coronavirus N protein, and further elaborate on its multifaceted regulatory functions in the virion assembly, pathogenesis, host innate immune responses, as well as the innate immunity-related programmed cell death and cell cycle, and also other cell processes. A better understanding of the immune evasion strategy regulated by N protein will help to provide a theoretical basis for the development of broad-spectrum anti-coronavirus drugs targeting N proteins.
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology
Authors: Yuting Xiao, Ziyao Song, Lei Zhou, Wanqing Lu, Weihuan Fang, Jidong Xu, Xiaoliang Li
Institution: Zhejiang University
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Award: G7175847526
OpenAlex ID: W4417162464