Bioinformatics analysis of SARS-Cov M protein provides information for vaccine development

The pathogen causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is identified to be SARS-Cov. It is urgent to know more about SARS-Cov for developing an efficient SARS vaccine to prevent this epidemic disease. In this report, the homology of SARS-Cov M protein to other members of coronavirus is illustrated, and all amino acid changes in both S and M proteins among all available SARS-Cov isolates in GenBank are described. Furthermore, one topological trans-membrane secondary structure model of M protein is proposed, which is corresponded well with the accepted topology model of M proteins of other members of coronavirus. Hydrophilic profile analysis indicated that one region (aa150～210) on the cytoplasmic domain is fairly hydrophilic, suggesting its property of antigenicity. Based on the fact that cytoplasmic domain of the M protein of some other coronavirus could induce protective activities against virus infection, this region might be one potential target for SARS vaccine development.