Assembly mechanisms of coronaviruses

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25860346
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Virology
• Research Institution: Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University
• Principal Investigator: Ujike Makoto 日本獣医生命科学大学, 獣医学部, 講師 (50415478)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: コロナウイルス / ウイルス粒子形成 / S蛋白質 / N蛋白質 / 小胞体回収シグナル / 核移行シグナル / 核外移行シグナル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Coronaviruses (CoVs), which can be divided into two subfamily Coronavirus (CoV) and Torovirus (ToV), are causative agents of respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological diseases in mammalian and avian species. Since CoV buds and assembles at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), these structural proteins must be targeted and accumulated to the ERGIC for efficient virion assembly. However, since the targeting and/or accumulation signals at ERGIC differ among CoV genera or species, the mechanism is not well understood. In this study, we compared the subcellular localization of S and N proteins between SARS-CoV(Coronavirus) and Bovine-ToV(Torovirus), and identified their intracellular localization signals. We also showed that the intracellular signals of SARS-CoV S proteins have an important role in virus assembly.

Free Research Field

ウイルス学