Mutational screening reveals a cluster of residues within the SARS-CoV-2 nsp1 N-terminus that confers RNA-targeting selectivity
The SARS-CoV-2 nsp1 protein is a virulence factor that broadly inhibits cellular gene expression. Although cellular mRNAs are translationally inhibited by nsp1 and subsequently degraded, viral transcripts possess a 5′ leader sequence (CoV2L) that enables them to escape nsp1-mediated repression. Both transcript targetin...