| Background | SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is the causative agent of the COVID19 pandemic.?? SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoVshare many proteins common in other CoVs, including 4 majorstructural proteins (S, E, M, and N proteins) and 16 nonstructuralproteins (nsp1-16) , they possess a unique set of proteins, namelyorf3a, 3b, 6, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, and 9b The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes for a small accessory protein termed Orf9b, ?? which targets the mitochondrial outer membrane protein TOM70 in infected cells.This 98-amino acid (aa) protein is encoded by analternative open reading frame (ORF) within the N gene and istranslated via a leaky scanning mechanism during translationCrystal structures of orf9b alone revealed a homodimeric Beta-strand-rich structure? with a hydro_x005fphobic central tunnel for lipid binding, consistent with the role oforf9b in the mature virion assembly |
Information sourced from Uniprot.org
