Cholesterol-dependent interaction of SARS-CoV internal and N-terminal fusion peptides: implications in membrane fusion.

Membrane fusion is crucial for the entry of enveloped viruses into host cells. SARS-CoV contains multiple fusion peptide-like sequences, which could interact with each other, resulting in its high infectivity. Here, we report the interaction between the N-terminal (FP) and the internal fusion peptides (IFP1) of SARS-CoV, which has a significant impact on membrane fusion. We found that the interaction depends on the cholesterol (CH) content of the membrane.