MERS-CoV Nucleocapsid Protein Antibody, Rabbit PAb, Antigen Affinity Purified

Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense RNA genome and with a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry. Coronavirus nucleoproteins localize to the cytoplasm and the nucleolus, a subnuclear structure, in both virus-infected primary cells and in cells transfected with plasmids that express N protein. Coronavirus N protein is required for coronavirus RNA synthesis, and has RNA chaperone activity that may be involved in template switch. Nucleocapsid protein is a most abundant protein of coronavirus. During virion assembly, N protein binds to viral RNA and leads to formation of the helical nucleocapsid. Nucleocapsid protein is a highly immunogenic phosphoprotein also implicated in viral genome replication and in modulating cell signaling pathways. Because of the conservation of N protein sequence and its strong immunogenicity, the N protein of coronavirus is chosen as a diagnostic tool.

1. 1.Van Boheemen S, et al. (2012), MBio. 3(6):e00473-12.
2. Bisht H. et al., 2004, Proc Natl Acad Sci. 101 (17): 6641-6.
3. Li W. et al., 2005, Science. 309 (5742): 1864-8.