Coronaviruses and the Common Cold: N Protein Comparisons

“The structures show the comparisons between N protein models for pandemic-related coronaviruses – SARS-CoV-2 (red), Civet (orange), SARS-CoV (tan), MERS (pink) – and common-cold coronaviruses – OC43 (yellow), HKU1 (blue), NL63 (gray), 229E (cyan). For the sequence alignments, our paper (1) defined a new region (~15 amino acids) in the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 where patient antibodies interact. This sequence is 100 percent conserved in all documented patient samples and variants to date. It is also nearly identical in SARS-CoV and Civets. Larger variability is shown in MERS.”

 – Deborah F. Kelly, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Structural Oncology at Penn State University.

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