Abstract
Coronavirus E protein is a small membrane protein found in the virus envelope. Different coronavirus E proteins share striking biochemical and functional similarities, but sequence conservation is limited. In this report, we studied the E protein topology from the new SARS-CoV-2 virus both in microsomal membranes and in mammalian cells. Experimental data reveal that E protein is a single-spanning membrane protein with the N-terminus being translocated across the membrane, while the C-terminus is exposed to the cytoplasmic side (Ntlum/Ctcyt). The defined membrane protein topology of SARS-CoV-2 E protein may provide a useful framework to understand its interaction with other viral and host components and contribute to establish the basis to tackle the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an extremely infectious human disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has spread around the world at an unprecedented rate, causing a worldwide pandemic
Computer-assisted analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 E protein amino acid sequence using seven popular prediction methods showed that all membrane protein prediction algorithms except MEMSAT-SVM suggested the presence of one transmembrane (TM) segment located roughly around amino acids 12 to 39, which is not predicted as a cleavable signal sequence according to SignalP-5.0 [7]
Proteins can only be glycosylated in the lumen of the ER because the active site of oligosaccharyl transferase (OST), a translocon-associated protein responsible for N-glycosylation
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an extremely infectious human disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has spread around the world at an unprecedented rate, causing a worldwide pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes up to 29 proteins, some may not get expressed [1]. The viral RNA is packaged by the structural proteins to assemble viral particles at the ERGIC (ER-Golgi intermediate compartment). The four major structural proteins are the spike (S) surface glycoprotein, the membrane (M) matrix protein, the nucleocapsid (N) protein, and the envelope (E) protein. These conserved structural proteins are synthesized from sub-genomic RNAs (sgRNA) encoded close to the 30 end of the viral genome [2]
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