Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 NSP8

The replication of Coronavirus is operated by multiple non-structural proteins (nsps). The viral genomic RNA is translated from two open reading frames (ORFs), ORF1a and ORF1b. The encoded replicase polyproteins, pp1a and pp1ab, are further processed to produce nsps. The viral protease, 3CLpro cleaves to generate the NSP8 protein. NSP8 is a component of the coronavirus replicase polyprotein that forms a replication complex. It forms a dimer with NSP7 and subsequently assembles into a large hexadecameric structure, which participates in viral replication by acting as a primase. NSP8 was shown to have RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity that is necessary for producing primers utilized by NSP12 which is normally considered to be the RdRp for SARS-CoV-2.