| Summary: | Coronavirus M protein is an essential component of virions and plays pivotal roles in virion assembly, budding and maturation. The M protein is integrated into the viral envelope with three transmembrane domains flanked by a short amino-terminal ectodomain and a large carboxy-terminal endodomain. To understand the cellular factors that may be involved in virion assembly, budding and maturation processes, the M protein from coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) was used as a bait in a yeast two-hybrid screen, resulting in the identification of -Actin as a potentially interacting partner. This interaction was subsequent confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence in mammalian cells, and mutation of amino acids A159 and K160 in the M protein abolished the interaction.
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