{"doi":"10.1126/sciadv.adx1788","title":"Ion channel structure and function of the MERS coronavirus E protein","abstract":"Coronavirus envelope (E) proteins form drug-targeted ion channels that cause virulence to infected cells. The Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus has high mortality rates, but its E structure and function are unknown. We report the single-channel conductance and structure of membrane-bound MERS E protein. MERS E conducts K + ions with a unitary conductance of 113 picosiemens, fivefold larger than the conductance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 E. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance data indicate that the MERS E transmembrane domain forms a five-helix bundle that spans the lipid bilayer. The amino-terminal helical interface features multiple interacting phenylalanine (Phe) residues and an asparagine (Asn), whereas the carboxyl-terminal channel pore contains Phe 33 . Mutation of Phe 17 abolished K + conductance, whereas mutations of Phe 33 and Asn 15 suppressed most channel activity. These results indicate that MERS E contains two Phe-centered ion-conduction apparatuses, which likely permeate ions through cation-π interactions, providing the structural basis for developing antiviral drugs to inhibit this pathogenic viroporin.","journal":"Science Advances","year":2025,"id":513449,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":10,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9625,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1374511,"name":"Bingqing Xia","orcid":"0000-0002-6154-2415","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":794359,"name":"Noah H. Somberg","orcid":"0000-0002-5222-0334","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1045288,"name":"Yi Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-2936-3687","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":733706,"name":"Hyunil Jo","orcid":"0000-0002-4863-0779","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1375206,"name":"Shuangqu Li","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":826792,"name":"Barbara Perrone","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1374512,"name":"Zhaobing Gao","orcid":"0000-0001-8931-5508","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":228557,"name":"Mei Hong","orcid":"0000-0001-5255-5858","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1109057,"name":"Iva Sučec","orcid":"0000-0002-1192-7800","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":62,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:48:17.908238Z","pmid":"40632851","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}