nucleocapsid

The scientists tested both aerosols and large droplets in the air samples for coronavirus RNA and calculated how many copies of the virus’s nucleocapsid protein gene, or N gene, were present.

Antibody tests usually test for antibodies against the virus’s nucleocapsid, or N protein.

Vaxart’s vaccine contains instructions for making the spike protein, and also for the nucleocapsid, or N protein.

It targets both a protein known as a nucleocapsid, which coronaviruses use to infect their host, and the so-called spike protein zeroed in on by vaccines authorized for use already.

Scientists leading the trial say the nucleocapsid may be less likely to mutate than the spike protein, which since the start of the pandemic has changed in ways that lower the protection provided by vaccines that target the spike alone.