Crystal structure of Nsp15 endoribonuclease NendoU from SARS-CoV-2.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is rapidly spreading around the world. There is no existing vaccine or proven drug to prevent infections and stop virus proliferation. Although this virus is similar to human and animal SARS-CoVs and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoVs), the detailed information about SARS-CoV-2 proteins structures and functions is urgently needed to rapidly develop effective vaccines, antibodies, and antivirals. We applied high-throughput protein production and structure determination pipeline at the Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases to produce SARS-CoV-2 proteins and structures. Here we report two high-resolution crystal structures of endoribonuclease Nsp15/NendoU. We compare these structures with previously reported homologs from SARS and MERS coronaviruses.