The charge heterogeneity of murine coronavirus nucleocapsid protein is related to phosphorylation
WEN Rong, WANG Yuyan, YE Rong
Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), and Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Abstract The nucleocapsid (N) protein is an essential structural protein of the virus and plays an important role in protecting the viral genome and regulating the process of viral replication. The phosphorylation of N protein of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), has been proved to be associated with viral transcription, replication and assembly. We found that N protein expressed at late stage rather than early stage in neuro-2a cells infected with MHV-A59 showed a significant charge heterogeneity. Isoelectric focusing electrophoresis showed that the charge of N protein was continuously distributed. Treatment with the protein S-palmitoylation inhibitor 2-BP and the proteasome inhibitor MG-132 showed that viral replication levels were not only associated with N protein electronegativity, but also with the PKCα phosphorylation at S657 and the maintenance of some endoplasmic reticulum components involved in protein modification and degradation. These results suggest that phosphorylation is a factor associated to the heterogeneity and stability of the murine coronavirus N protein.
WEN Rong,WANG Yuyan,YE Rong. The charge heterogeneity of murine coronavirus nucleocapsid protein is related to phosphorylation[J]. JOURNAL OF MICROBES AND INFECTIONS, 2019, 14(5): 267-276.