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Int J Biol Macromol
. 2022 Mar 14;S0141-8130(22)00528-1.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.03.058. Online ahead of print.
The spike glycoproteins of SARS-CoV-2: A review of how mutations of spike glycoproteins have driven the emergence of variants with high transmissibility and immune escape
Pedro F N Souza 1 , Felipe P Mesquita 2 , Jackson L Amaral 3 , Patrícia G C Landim 3 , Karollyny R P Lima 3 , Marília B Costa 2 , Izabelle R Farias 2 , Mônica O Belém 4 , Yago O Pinto 5 , Heline H T Moreira 5 , Ilana C L Magalhaes 6 , Débora S C M Castelo-Branco 7 , Raquel C Montenegro 3 , Claudia R de Andrade 4
Affiliations
- PMID: 35300999
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.03.058
Abstract
Late in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) emerged, causing an unknown type of pneumonia today called coronaviruses disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 is still an ongoing global outbreak that has claimed and threatened many lives worldwide. Along with the fastest vaccine developed in history to fight SARS-CoV-2 came a critical problem, SARS-CoV-2. These new variants are a result of the accumulation of mutations in the sequence and structure of spike (S) glycoprotein, which is by far the most critical protein for SARS-CoV-2 to recognize cells and escape the immune system, in addition to playing a role in SARS-CoV-2 infection, pathogenicity, transmission, and evolution. In this review, we discuss mutation of S protein and how these mutations have led to new variants that are usually more transmissible and can thus mitigate the immunity produced by vaccination. Here, analysis of S protein sequences and structures from variants point out the mutations among them, how they emerge, and the behavior of S protein from each variant. This review brings details in an understandable way about how the variants of SARS-CoV-2 are a result of mutations in S protein, making them more transmissible and even more aggressive than their relatives.
Keywords: Coronaviruses; Mutations; RBD; SARS-CoV-2; Spike proteins.