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. 2021 Aug 10;65(2):280–294. doi: 10.1007/s11427-021-1964-4

Overview of SARS-CoV-2 genome-encoded proteins

Chongzhi Bai 1,2,3,#, Qiming Zhong 2,#, George Fu Gao 1,3,✉
PMCID: PMC8362648  PMID: 34387838

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly throughout the world. SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped, plus-stranded RNA virus with a single-stranded RNA genome of approximately 30,000 nucleotides. The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes 29 proteins, including 16 nonstructural, 4 structural and 9 accessory proteins. To date, over 1,228 experimental structures of SARS-CoV-2 proteins have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), including 16 protein structures, two functional domain structures of nucleocapsid (N) protein, and scores of complexes. Overall, they exhibit high similarity to SARS-CoV proteins. Here, we summarize the progress of structural and functional research on SARS-CoV-2 proteins. These studies provide structural and functional insights into proteins of SARS-CoV-2, and further elucidate the daedal relationship between different components at the atomic level in the viral life cycle, including attachment to the host cell, viral genome replication and transcription, genome packaging and assembly, and virus release. It is important to understand the structural and functional properties of SARS-CoV-2 proteins as it will facilitate the development of anti-CoV drugs and vaccines to prevent and control the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, structural and functional characterization, biological impact, structure and function-based drug discovery

Compliance and ethics The author(s) declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Footnotes

Contributed equally to this work

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