ArticlePLoS biology2025
Variant mutation G215C in SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid enhances viral infection via altered genomic encapsidation.
Article in PLoS biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Loss-of-function mutation in Omicron variants reduces spike protein expression and attenuates SARS-CoV-2 infection.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Reverse genetics strategies for coronaviruses: platform construction and applications in vaccine development.Virus genes · 2026Review
- Rab11Bis required for binding and entry of recent H3N2, but not H1N1, influenza A isolates.Journal of virology · 2026Article
- Antagonism of stress granules key for SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Evolution of a truncated nucleocapsid protein enhances SARS-CoV-2 fitness by suppressing antiviral responses.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Research progress of nucleocapsid protein of novel coronavirus: structure, function and targeted therapy.Archives of virology · 2026Review
- Coronavirus genome packaging and nucleocapsid assembly.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Article
- Evolution of a fuzzy ribonucleoprotein complex in viral assembly.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The role of intrinsically disordered regions of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and non-structural protein 1 proteins.Frontiers in chemistry · 2025Review
- Modulation of biophysical properties of nucleocapsid protein in the mutant spectrum of SARS-CoV-2.eLife · 2024Article
- Modulation of Biophysical Properties of Nucleocapsid Protein in the Mutant Spectrum of SARS-CoV-2.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Enhanced detection and molecular modeling of adaptive mutations in SARS-CoV-2 coding and non-coding regions using the c/µ test.Virus evolution · 2024Article
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24 authors.
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Abstract
The evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their respective phenotypes represents an important set of tools to understand basic coronavirus biology as well as the public health implications of individual mutations in variants of concern. While mutations outside of spike are not well studied, the entire viral genome is undergoing evolutionary selection, with several variants containing mutations in the central disordered linker region of the nucleocapsid (N) protein. Here, we identify a mutation (G215C), characteristic of the Delta variant, that introduces a novel cysteine into this linker domain, which results in the formation of a more stable N-N dimer. Using reverse genetics, we determined that this cysteine residue is necessary and sufficient for stable dimer formation in a WA1 SARS-CoV-2 background, where it results in significantly increased viral growth both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we show that the N:G215C mutant has more encapsidation as measured by increased RNA binding to N, N incorporation into virions, and electron microscopy showing that individual virions are larger, with elongated morphologies.
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