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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Visualization of Endoplasmic Reticulum Localized mRNAs in Mammalian Cells
Published on: December 17, 2012
Why do SARS-CoV-2 NSPs rush to the ER?
Maryline Santerre1, Sterling P Arjona2, Charles Ns Allen2
1Molecular Studies of Neurodegenerative Diseases Lab, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Fels Institute for Cancer Research, Temple University, 3307 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA. tue86122@temple.edu.
Abstract:
SARS-CoV-2, which led to the 2020 global pandemic, is responsible for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory illness, and presents a tropism for the central nervous system. Like most members of this family, the virus is composed of structural and non-structural proteins (NSPs). The non-structural proteins are critical elements of the replication and transcription complex (RTC), as well as immune system evasion. Through hijacking the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, NSPs help the virus establish the RTC, inducing ER stress after membrane rearrangement and causing severe neuronal disturbance. In this review, we focus on the role of Nsp3, 4, and 6 in intracellular membrane rearrangement and evaluate the potential disruption of the central nervous system and the neurodegeneration which it could trigger. Studies of these NSPs will not only bring to light their specific role in viral infection but also facilitate the discovery of novel targeted drugs.
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