Premium
Adenovirus‐mediated expression of the C‐terminal domain of SARS‐CoV spike protein is sufficient to induce apoptosis in Vero E6 cells
Author(s) -
Chow Ken Y.C.,
Yeung Yin Shan,
Hon Chung Chau,
Zeng Fanya,
Law Ka Man,
Leung Frederick C.C.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.10.065
Subject(s) - vero cell , apoptosis , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , dna fragmentation , chromatin , in vitro , fragmentation (computing) , dna , virology , programmed cell death , virus , genetics , ecology
The pro‐apoptotic properties of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV) structural proteins were studied in vitro. By monitoring apoptosis indicators including chromatin condensation, cellular DNA fragmentation and cell membrane asymmetry, we demonstrated that the adenovirus‐mediated over‐expression of SARS‐CoV spike (S) protein and its C‐terminal domain (S2) induce apoptosis in Vero E6 cells in a time‐ and dosage‐dependent manner, whereas the expression of its N‐terminal domain (S1) and other structural proteins, including envelope (E), membrane (M) and nucleocapsid (N) protein do not. These findings suggest a possible role of S and S2 protein in SARS‐CoV induced apoptosis and the molecular pathogenesis of SARS.