Fig. 9.

Proteostasis imbalance due to SARS-CoV-2 aggregation-prone proteins. a) In our study, we identified 10 proteins that showed an increase in the predicted aggregation propensity: non-structural proteins Nsp4, Nsp6 and Nsp7, as well as ORF3a, ORF6, ORF7a, ORF7b, ORF10, CovE and CovM. b) One of the common consequences of protein aggregation is, for example, impairment of the protein degradation systems. This extra burden on the degradation system can promote additional protein accumulation, ultimately causing a proteostasis imbalance. This may result in the accumulation of viral proteins that can engage in promiscuous interactions with other proteins, and may increase the virulence of the virus.