SARS-CoV-2 Nucleoprotein

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a lower respiratory tract illness that was first reported in patients from the Guandong Province of China in November 2002. The causative agent, which was previously unknown, was isolated in 2003 and named as SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the coronavirus induced disease 19 (COVID-19) which emerged in China in late 2019, resulting in a worldwide epidemic (Zhou et al., 2020).||Human coronaviruses are the major cause of upper respiratory tract illness. They are positive-stranded RNA viruses, and contain the largest viral RNA genomes known to date (27-31 kb). SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and COVID-19 are both caused by human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, respectively. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 shares 82% nucleotide identity with human SARS-CoV and 89% with bat SARS-like-CoVZXC21 (Lu et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2020). However, initially it displayed lower pathogenicity and higher human to human transmissibility (Li et al., 2020). The coronavirus genome encodes four structural proteins: the spike (S) protein, nucleocapsid (N) protein, membrane (M) protein, and the envelope (E) protein.||The coronavirus nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (N, or nucleoprotein) is highly basic and binds the viral RNA as a dimeric entity into nucleocapsids which protect the viral genome, while also providing access for replication when required. The nucleoprotein packages the positive strand viral genome RNA into a helical ribonucleocapsid (RNP) and plays a fundamental role during virion assembly through its interactions with the viral genome and membrane protein M. It plays an important role in enhancing the efficiency of subgenomic viral RNA transcription as well as viral replication (Fan et al., 2005).||Applications: |Suitable for use in ELISA and Western Blot. Other applications not tested.||Recommended Dilution:|ELISA: 0.01-1ug/ml|Optimal dilutions to be determined by the researcher.||Storage and Stability:|May be stored at 4°C for short-term only. Aliquot to avoid repeated freezing and thawing. Store at -20°C. Aliquots are stable for 12 months after receipt. For maximum recovery of product, centrifuge the original vial after thawing and prior to removing the cap.