简介：WestudiedstructuralandimmunologicalpropertiesoftheSARS-CoVM(mem-brane)protein,basedoncomparativeanalysesofsequencefeatures,phylogeneticinvestigation,andexperimentalresults.TheMproteinispredictedtocontainatriple-spanningtransmembrane(TM)region,asingleN-glycosylationsitenearitsN-terminusthatisintheexteriorofthevirion,andalongC-terminalregionintheinterior.TheMproteinharborsahighersubstitutionrate(0.6%correlatedtoitssize)amongviralopenreadingframes(ORFs)frompublisheddata.ThefoursubstitutionsdetectedintheMprotein,whichcausenon-synonymouschanges,canbeclassifiedintothreetypes.OneofthemresultsinchangesofpI(isoelectricpoint)andcharge,affectingantigenicity.ThesecondchangeshydrophobicityoftheTMregion,andthethirdonerelatestohydrophilicityoftheinteriorstructure.PhylogenetictreebuildingbasedonthevariationsoftheMproteinappearstosupportthenon-humanoriginofSARS-CoV.Toinvestigateitsimmunogenicity,wesynthesizedeightoligopeptidescovering69.2%oftheentireORFandscreenedthembyusingELISA(enzyme-linkedimmunosorbentassay)withserafromSARSpatients.Theresultsconfirmedourpredictionsonantigenicsites.