Fig. 3.

The effect of various N-protein deletion mutants on N-protein binding to the mouse hepatitis virus packaging sequence.

(A) Schematic diagram of various deletion constructs of the SARS-CoV N-protein. The molecular weights of each deletion construct are indicated on the right. (B–H) The truncated forms of N-protein inhibited the translation of the LacZ reporter to varying degrees, indicating an interaction between the protein and the mouse hepatitis virus packaging sequence. Results of the ONPG and CPRG assays are shown on the right. All experiments were performed in triplicate, and data are presented as the mean ± SD (standard deviation) of three separate experiments.