The SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid (N) is an important structural protein that plays important roles in the viral life cycle including replication, transcription, and genome packaging [1]. The full-length N protein is a flexible and multivalent phosphoprotein that associates with the viral RNA genome and forms the ribonucleoprotein core. The N protein is a major immunogen in COVID-19 and is thus, an attractive target for diagnosis and treatment strategies against SARS‑CoV‑2.
Depending on your research, InvivoGen offers different plasmids encoding the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid from the Wuhan-Hu-1 isolate (D614):
pUNO1 expression vector
- Expresses the wild-type coding sequence of the nucleocapsid gene from ATG to the stop codon (1260 bp)
- Unique restriction sites flank the nucleocapsid gene for subcloning purposes
- Selectable in mammalian and bacterial cells with Blasticidin
pUNO1His or pUNO1Fc production vectors
- Designed for mammalian cell production of a tagged, secreted, full-length nucleocapsid protein
- Express a codon-optimized nucleocapsid sequence with mammalian codon usage
- Contain an exogenous signal sequence for extracellular secretion
- Feature a C-terminal His- or Fc-tag to facilitate the detection and/or the purification of the nucleocapsid
- Selectable in mammalian and bacterial cells with Blasticidin
References
1. Mu, J. et al. 2020. SARS-CoV-2-encoded nucleocapsid protein acts as a viral suppressor of RNA interference in cells. Sci China Life Sci 63, 1-4.
