Hu Y, Li W, Gao T, Cui Y, Jin Y, Li P, Ma Q, Liu X, Cao C

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that is characterized by atypical pneumonia. The nucleocapsid protein (N protein) of SARS-CoV plays an important role in inhibition of type I interferon (IFN) production via an unknown mechanism. In this study, the SARS-CoV N protein ...

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was found to bind to the SPRY domain of the tripartite motif protein 25 (TRIM25) E3 ubiquitin ligase, thereby interfering with the association between TRIM25 and retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and inhibiting TRIM25-mediated RIG-I ubiquitination and activation. Type I IFN production induced by poly I:C or Sendai virus (SeV) was suppressed by the SARS-CoV N protein. SARS-CoV replication was increased by over-expression of the full-length N protein but not N (1-361), which could not interact with TRIM25. These findings provide an insightful interpretation of the SARS-CoV-mediated host innate immune suppression caused by the N protein.The SARS-CoV N protein is essential for the viral life cycle and plays a key role in the virus-host interaction. We demonstrated that the interaction between the C-terminus of the N protein and the SPRY domain of TRIM25 inhibited TRIM25-mediated RIG-I ubiquitination, which resulted in the inhibition of IFN production. We also found that the MERS-CoV N protein interacted with TRIM25 and inhibited RIG-I signaling. The outcomes of these findings indicate the function of the coronavirus N protein in modulating the host's initial innate immune response.

Date: Feb. 01, 2017

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