Andrey Grigoriev’s Lab in the Department of Biology, Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Rutgers University in Camden, took a bioinformatic look at betacoronaviruses and found SARS-CoV-2 produces multiple isoforms of the nucleocapsid (N) subgenomic mRNA, with two secondary isoforms restoring the reading frame and likely regulating N protein production. Similar isoforms in other coronaviruses indicated a conserved mechanism across different viruses. The positions of junction breakpoints suggest similar mechanisms in SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and human coronavirus OC43 but not in MERS-CoV, which may inform antisense-based antiviral strategies.
Kelley JJ, Grigoriev A. Patterns of Isoform Variation for N Gene Subgenomic mRNAs in Betacoronavirus Transcriptomes. Viruses. 2024 Dec 30;17(1):36. doi: 10.3390/v17010036. PMID: 39861825. https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/1/36
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