Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 has become a global pandemic threatening human health and safety. It is urgent to find effective therapeutic agents and targets with the continuous emergence of novel mutant strains. The knowledge of the molecular basis and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in host cells requires to be understood comprehensively. The unknown structure and function of nsp2 have hindered our understanding of its role in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we report the crystal structure of the N-terminal of SARS-CoV-2 nsp2 to a high resolution of 1.96 Å. This novel structure contains three zinc fingers, belonging to the C2H2, C4, and C2HC types, respectively. Structure analysis suggests that nsp2 may be involved in binding nucleic acids and regulating intracellular signaling pathways. The binding to single or double-stranded nucleic acids was mainly through the large positively charged region on the surface of nsp2, and K111, K112, K113 were key residues. Our findings lay the foundation for a better understanding of the relationship between structure and function for nsp2. It is helpful to make full use of nsp2 as further research and development of antiviral targets and drug design.
Keywords: Crystal structure; Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS); Zinc finger.
【저자키워드】 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), crystal structure, Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), zinc finger, 【초록키워드】 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Structure, SARS-CoV-2, Zinc, coronavirus, Pathogenesis, drug design, knowledge, SARS-COV-2 infection, research and development, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus, global pandemic, nucleic acid, Health, nucleic acids, Research, target, therapeutic agent, targets, crystal structure, antiviral target, binding, Analysis, NSP2, Pathways, Mutant strains, EMSA, host cells, host cell, high resolution, acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, foundation, crystal, molecular basis, residues, N-terminal, pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, intracellular signaling, effective, C2H2, SARS-CoV-2 nsp2, involved, double-stranded, X-ray scattering, 【제목키워드】 Structure, SARS-CoV-2, function, finger,