Dynamic competition between SARS-CoV-2 NSP1 and mRNA on the human ribosome inhibits translation initiation

SARS-CoV-2 nonstructural protein 1 (Nsp1) inhibits cellular translation by binding to the small (40S) ribosomal subunit, whose binding is allosterically modulated by the host eukaryotic translation initiation factors. Nsp1 and mRNA compete with each other to bind the ribosome, which results in the prevention of mRNA accommodation within the entry channel of ribosome.