TRAP complex is essential for coronavirus replication and glycoprotein biogeneses
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Updated: Oct 31, 2026

Production of Pseudotyped Particles to Study Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses in a Biosafety Level 2 Setting
Published on: March 1, 2019
Yihan Tian1, Junchao Shi1, Shaoqian Mu1
1State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, and College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Abstract:
Coronaviruses remodel the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to build replication organelles while producing heavily glycosylated membrane proteins, but the mechanisms coordinating these demands are unclear. Here, we describe the ER-resident translocon-associated protein (TRAP/SSR) complex as a conserved host dependency across diverse coronaviruses. Using porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV) as a model, we identify TRAPγ in a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen as essential for productive viral infection. TRAPγ depletion suppresses viral replication, disrupts canonical replication organelle formation, and amplifies innate immune signaling. Viral glycoproteins (nsp4, Spike, and hemagglutinin-esterase) selectively engage specific TRAP subunits (α, β, γ, and δ), and reducing their signal-sequence hydrophobicity compromises glycoprotein production and N-glycosylation, consistent with impaired co-translational ER targeting or translocation. Inhibition of the oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) complex recapitulates these defects, supporting a sequential signal recognition particle (SRP)-TRAP-OST axis. Thus, our findings reveal an essential role for the TRAP complex in viral subversion of ER proteostasis, highlighting ER co‑translational translocation machinery as a pivotal host-pathogen interface during the viral lifecycle.
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