tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Nanoscale
. 2020 Jul 29.
doi: 10.1039/d0nr03969a. Online ahead of print.
Quantitative determination of mechanical stability in the novel coronavirus spike protein
Rodrigo A Moreira[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mateusz Chwastyk[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Joseph L Baker[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Horacio V Guzman[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Adolfo B Poma[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
We report on the novel observation about the gain in nanomechanical stability of the SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) spike (S) protein in comparison with SARS-CoV from 2002 (CoV1). Our findings have several biological implications in the subfamily of coronaviruses, as they suggest that the receptor binding domain (RBD) (∼200 amino acids) plays a fundamental role as a damping element of the massive viral particle's motion prior to cell-recognition, while also facilitating viral attachment, fusion and entry. The mechanical stability via pulling of the RBD is 250 pN and 200 pN for CoV2 and CoV1 respectively, and the additional stability observed for CoV2 (∼50 pN) might play a role in the increasing spread of COVID-19.
. 2020 Jul 29.
doi: 10.1039/d0nr03969a. Online ahead of print.
Quantitative determination of mechanical stability in the novel coronavirus spike protein
Rodrigo A Moreira[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mateusz Chwastyk[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Joseph L Baker[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Horacio V Guzman[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Adolfo B Poma[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32725017
- DOI: 10.1039/d0nr03969a
Abstract
We report on the novel observation about the gain in nanomechanical stability of the SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) spike (S) protein in comparison with SARS-CoV from 2002 (CoV1). Our findings have several biological implications in the subfamily of coronaviruses, as they suggest that the receptor binding domain (RBD) (∼200 amino acids) plays a fundamental role as a damping element of the massive viral particle's motion prior to cell-recognition, while also facilitating viral attachment, fusion and entry. The mechanical stability via pulling of the RBD is 250 pN and 200 pN for CoV2 and CoV1 respectively, and the additional stability observed for CoV2 (∼50 pN) might play a role in the increasing spread of COVID-19.