Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

Sec. Molecular Viral Pathogenesis

Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1458383

Provisionally accepted

Olena Filchakova *

Nail Minigulov

Kuandyk Boranbayev

Ayaulym Bekbossynova

Bakhytgul Gadilgereyeva

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

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Following COVID-19 outbreak with its unprecedented effect on the entire world, the interest to the coronaviruses increased. The causative agent of the COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is one of seven coronaviruses that is pathogenic to humans. Others include SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-229E. The viruses differ in their pathogenicity. SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 are capable to spread rapidly and cause epidemic, while HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-229E cause mild respiratory disease. The difference in the viral behavior is due to structural and functional differences. All seven human coronaviruses possess four structural proteins: spike, envelope, membrane, and nucleocapsid. Spike protein with its receptor binding domain is crucial for the entry to the host cell, where different receptors on the host cell are recruited by different viruses. Envelope protein plays important role in viral assembly, and following cellular entry, contributes to immune response. Membrane protein is an abundant viral protein, contributing to the assembly and pathogenicity of the virus. Nucleocapsid protein encompasses the viral RNA into ribonucleocapsid, playing important role in viral replication. The present review provides detailed summary of structural and functional characteristics of structural proteins from seven human coronaviruses, and could serve as a practical reference when pathogenic human coronaviruses are compared, and novel treatments are proposed.

Keywords: Coronaviruses, structural proteins, SARS, MERS, HKU1, OC43, NL63, 229E

Received: 04 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Filchakova, Minigulov, Boranbayev, Bekbossynova and Gadilgereyeva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Olena Filchakova, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Nur-sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.