为了应对最近的SARS-CoV-2大流行,世界各地的一些实验室已经重新分配了他们的时间和资源,以更好地了解病毒。对于一些病毒来说,包括SARS-CoV-2,病毒蛋白可以进行相分离:这是一个生物物理过程,通常与体内蛋白质和RNA分配到无膜细胞器中有关。在这次审查中,我们讨论了SARS-CoV-2核衣壳(N)蛋白-病毒复制所需的必需病毒蛋白-相分离的新观察结果,以及N蛋白相分离的可能的体内功能。包括病毒复制,病毒基因组RNA包装,和调节宿主细胞对感染的反应。此外,由于在短时间内发表了大量关于SARS-CoV-2N蛋白相分离的研究,我们利用这种情况来比较研究中类似实验的结果。我们的评估突出了从一组实验中得出结论的潜在优势和陷阱,以及发布由多个实验室同时进行的重叠科学观察的价值。
In response to the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a number of labs across the world have reallocated their time and resources to better our understanding of the virus. For some viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, viral proteins can undergo phase separation: a biophysical process often related to the partitioning of protein and RNA into membraneless organelles in vivo. In this review, we discuss emerging observations of phase separation by the SARS-CoV-2
nucleocapsid (N) protein-an essential viral protein required for viral replication-and the possible in vivo functions that have been proposed for N-protein phase separation, including viral replication, viral genomic RNA packaging, and modulation of host-cell response to infection. Additionally, since a relatively large number of studies examining SARS-CoV-2 N-protein phase separation have been published in a short span of time, we take advantage of this situation to compare results from similar experiments across studies. Our evaluation highlights potential strengths and pitfalls of drawing conclusions from a single set of experiments, as well as the value of publishing overlapping scientific observations performed simultaneously by multiple labs.