The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein suppresses innate immunity by remodeling stress granules to atypical foci

Abstract

Viruses deploy multiple strategies to suppress the host innate immune response to facilitate viral replication and pathogenesis. Typical G3BP1⁺ stress granules (SGs) are usually formed in host cells after virus infection to restrain viral translation and to stimulate innate immunity. Thus, viruses have evolved various mechanisms to inhibit SGs or to repurpose SG components such as G3BP1. Previous studies showed that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection inhibited host immunity during the early stage of COVID-19. However, the precise mechanism is not yet well understood. Here we showed that the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (SARS2-N) protein suppressed the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-induced innate immune response, concomitant with inhibition of SGs and the induction of atypical SARS2-N⁺ /G3BP1⁺ foci (N⁺ foci). The SARS2-N protein-induced formation of N⁺ foci was dependent on the ability of its ITFG motif to hijack G3BP1, which contributed to suppress the innate immune response. Importantly, SARS2-N protein facilitated viral replication by inducing the formation of N⁺ foci. Viral mutations within SARS2-N protein that impair the formation of N⁺ foci are associated with the inability of the SARS2-N protein to suppress the immune response. Taken together, our study has revealed a novel mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 suppresses the innate immune response via induction of atypical N⁺ foci. We think that this is a critical strategy for viral pathogenesis and has potential therapeutic implications.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; innate immunity; nucleocapsid protein; stress granules.