SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) NSP8 Protein

NSP8, forms a hexadecamer with nsp7 (8 subunits of each) that may participate in viral replication by acting as a primase. Alternatively, may synthesize substantially longer products than oligonucleotide primers. To ultimately combat the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, it is desired to develop an effective and safe vaccine against this highly contagious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. By investigating the entire proteome of SARS-CoV-2, six proteins, including the S protein and five non-structural proteins (nsp3, 3CL-pro, and nsp8-10) were predicted to be adhesins, which are crucial to the viral adhering and host invasion. The S, nsp3, and nsp8 proteins were also predicted by Vaxign-ML to induce high protective antigenicity.