SARS CoV 2 N protein monoclonal antibody

The nucleocapsid (N) protein is an important structural protein for the coronaviruses. It is highly abundant in the viruses. N protein packages the positive strand viral genome RNA into a helical ribonucleocapsid (RNP) and plays a fundamental role in entering the host cell, facilitating viral RNA replication, processing the virus particle assembly and release. SARS-CoV N protein contains two distinct RNA-binding domains (the N-terminal domain [NTD] and the C-terminal domain [CTD]) linked by a poorly structured linkage region (LKR) containing a serine/arginine-rich (SR-rich) domain (SRD). LKR is ability to improve oligomerization. Furthermore, N protein is an interesting target in the development of antiviral therapeutics. Because of the conservation of N protein sequence and its strong immunogenicity, N protein of coronavirus is chosen as a diagnostic tool. Serological diagnosis detected that the specific antibodies against the N protein in the serum of SARS patients have higher sensitivity and longer persistence than those of other structural proteins of SARS-CoV. Moreover, it is also frequently used in vaccine development.