Nature Communications (Jun 2021)

A metal ion orients SARS-CoV-2 mRNA to ensure accurate 2′-O methylation of its first nucleotide

  • Thiruselvam Viswanathan,
  • Anurag Misra,
  • Siu-Hong Chan,
  • Shan Qi,
  • Nan Dai,
  • Shailee Arya,
  • Luis Martinez-Sobrido,
  • Yogesh K. Gupta

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23594-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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The SARS-CoV-2 nsp16/nsp10 enzyme complex methylates the 2′-OH of the first nucleotide of the viral mRNA, converting the Cap-0 to Cap-1, which helps the virus to evade immune surveillance in the host cell. Here, the authors present the crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 nsp16/nsp10 with the bound Cap-1 RNA nucleotide product and a post-release SAH containing structure.