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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Liquid–liquid phase separation by SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein and RNA

Hui Chen^1,2 , Yang Cui² , Xuling Han^2,3 , Wei Hu^4,5 , Min Sun² , Yong Zhang² , Pei-Hui Wang⁶ , Guangtao Song² , Wei Chen^4,5,* , Jizhong Lou^2,3,7,*

¹Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518102, China
²Key Laboratory of RNA Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
³University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100084, China
⁴Department of Cell Biology and Department of Cardiology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China
⁵Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory for Modern Optical Instrumentation, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China
⁶Advanced Medical Research Institute, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, China
⁷Bioland Laboratory (Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory), Guangzhou, Guangdong 510320, China
* Correspondence: Wei Chen(jackweichen@zju.edu.cn)Jizhong Lou(jlou@ibp.ac.cn)

Dear Editor,

The COVID-19 pandemic worldwide is caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2).1 After viral invasion into the host cells, the ~30 kb viral genome RNA injected is translated into structural and non-structural proteins to replicate viral genome and assemble more viral particles. Many copies of nucleocapsid (N) protein can bind to viral genome RNA and pack it into ~100 nm particles, assisting membrane (M) and envelope (E) proteins to efficiently assemble the viral envelope.2 The exact molecular mechanism by which N protein packs up the viral genome still remains elusive.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-020-00408-2

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