MERS-CoV Nucleocapsid Protein Antibody #73039

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a contagious viral respiratory infection, whose causative agent was identified as the MERS-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (1,2). MERS-CoV is a single-stranded mRNA betacoronavirus. Similar to other infectious coronaviruses (e.g., SARS-CoV-2), the MERS-CoV genome encodes four key structural proteins (spike, envelope, membrane, and nucleocapsid) that make up the virion particle, in addition to at least 10 smaller open reading frames (ORFs) that encode the non-structural (accessory) proteins involved in viral replication (3,4). Nucleocapsid protein is the primary protein involved in packaging the viral genome; however, its functions extend beyond its role in nucleocapsid formation. It may be translationally modified by host enzymes (5,6), and has been reported to influence viral transcription and replication, virion assembly, and the host response to viral infection, through effects on cell cycle, translation, and the innate immune response (7).