(1)H, (13)C and (15)N chemical shift assignment of the stem-loop 5a from the 5′-UTR of SARS-CoV-2

Schnieders, Robbin; Peter, Stephen A.; Banijamali, Elnaz; Riad, Magdalena; Altincekic, Nadide; Bains, Jasleen Kaur; Ceylan, Betül; Fürtig, Boris; Grün, J. Tassilo; Hengesbach, Martin; Hohmann, Katharina F.; Hymon, Daniel; Knezic, Bozana; Oxenfarth, Andreas; Petzold, Katja; Qureshi, Nusrat S.; Richter, Christian; Schlagnitweit, Judith; Schlundt, Andreas; Schwalbe, Harald; Stirnal, Elke; Sudakov, Alexey; Vögele, Jennifer; Wacker, Anna; Weigand, Julia E.; Wirmer-Bartoschek, Julia; Wöhnert, Jens

The SARS-CoV-2 (SCoV-2) virus is the causative agent of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It contains a positive sense single-stranded RNA genome and belongs to the genus of Betacoronaviruses. The 5′- and 3′-genomic ends of the 30 kb SCoV-2 genome are potential antiviral drug targets. Major parts of these sequences are highly conserved among Betacoronaviruses and contain cis-acting RNA elements that affect RNA translation and replication. The 31 nucleotide (nt) long highly conserved stem-loop 5a (SL5a) is located within the 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) important for viral replication. SL5a features a U-rich asymmetric bulge and is capped with a 5′-UUUCGU-3′ hexaloop, which is also found in stem-loop 5b (SL5b). We herein report the extensive (1)H, (13)C and (15)N resonance assignment of SL5a as basis for in-depth structural studies by solution NMR spectroscopy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12104-021-10007-w.