Аннотация:SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes four structural protein that include, Spike glycoprotein, Membrane protein, Envelope protein and Nucleocapsid Phosphoprotein (N-protein).The Nprotein interacts with viral genomic RNA and helps in packaging.As the SARS-CoV-2 spread to almost all countries worldwide within 2-3 months; it also acquired mutations in its RNA genome.Therefore, this study was conducted with an aim to identify the variations present in N-protein of SARS-CoV-2.Here, we analysed 4163 reported sequence of Nprotein from United States of America (USA) and compared with first reported sequence from Wuhan, China.Our study identified 107 mutations that reside all over the N-protein.Further, we show the high rate of mutations in intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of Nprotein.Our study show 45% residues of IDR2 harbour mutations.The RNA-binding domain (RBD) and dimerization domain of N-protein also have mutations at key residues.We further measured the effect of these mutations on N-protein stability and dynamicity and our data reveals that multiple mutations can cause considerable alterations.Altogether, our data strongly suggests that N-protein is one of the mutational hotspot proteins of SARS-CoV-2 that is changing rapidly and these mutations can potentially interferes with various aspects of N-protein functions including its interaction with RNA, oligomerization and signalling events.
