SARS-CoV-2 Nsp1 binds elongating ribosomes and suppresses ribosome-associated quality control

Non-structural protein 1 (Nsp1), the key factor of this process, binds to the mRNA entry channel of the 40S ribosomal subunit. While it was thought that this interaction prevented translation initiation, Nsp1 may affect other translational processes.

However, this potential was not fully understood. Here, we showed that Nsp1 binds to elongating 80S through the interaction between the C-terminal domain and the mRNA entry channel. Although this interaction does not alter the elongation rate, we demonstrated that Nsp1 counteracts ribosome-associated quality control (RQC).