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The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was proved to be the main agent of COVID-19. In the present study, we conducted an in depth analysis of the SARS-COV-2 nucleocapsid to identify potential targets that may allow identification of therapeutic targets.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>The SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein subcellular localization and physicochemical property was analyzed by PSORT II Prediction and ProtParam tool. Then SOPMA tool and swiss-model was applied to analyze the structure of N protein. Next, the biological function was explored by mass spectrometry analysis and flow cytometry. At last, its potential phosphorylation sites were analyzed by NetPhos3.1 Server and PROVEAN PROTEIN.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein composed of 419 aa, is a 45.6\u2009kDa positively charged unstable hydrophobic protein. It has 91 and 49% similarity to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV and is predicted to be predominantly a nuclear protein. It mainly contains random coil (55.13%) of which the tertiary structure was further determined with high reliability (95.76%). Cells transfected with SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein usually show a G1\/S phase block company with an increased expression of TUBA1C, TUBB6. At last, our analysis of SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein predicted a total number of 12 phosphorylated sites and 9 potential protein kinases which would significantly affect SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein function.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this study, we report the physicochemical properties, subcellular localization, and biological function of SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein. The 12 phosphorylated sites and 9 potential protein kinase sites in SARS-COV-2\u2009N protein may serve as promising targets for drug discovery and development for of a recombinant virus vaccine.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12866-021-02107-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,22]],"date-time":"2021-02-22T10:02:58Z","timestamp":1613988178000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":92,"title":["Identification and functional analysis of the SARS-COV-2 nucleocapsid protein"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Tianyi","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingdong","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiangxiang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhenlin","family":"Nie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huilin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kang","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongxin","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shukui","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"2107_CR1","unstructured":"World Health Organization. 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