Abstract
The binding of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein onto human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is considered as the first step for the virus to adhere onto the host cells during the infection. Here, we investigated the adhesion of spike proteins from different variants and ACE2 using single-molecule and single-cell force spectroscopy. We found that the unbinding force and binding probability of the spike protein from Delta variant to the ACE2 were the highest among the variants tested in our study at both single-molecule and single-cell levels. As the most popular variants, the Omicron variants have slightly higher unbinding force to the ACE2 than wild type. Molecular dynamics simulation showed that ACE2-RBD (Omicron BA.1) complex is destabilized by the E484A and Y505H mutations and stabilized by S477N and N501Y mutations, when compared with Delta variant. In addition, a neutralizing antibody, produced by immunization with wild type spike protein, could effectively inhibit the binding of spike proteins from wild type, Delta and Omicron variants (BA.1 and BA.5) onto ACE2. Our results provide new insight for the molecular mechanism of the adhesive interactions between spike protein and ACE2 and suggest that effective monoclonal antibody can be prepared using wild type spike protein against different variants.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; force spectroscopy; neutralizing antibody; pathogen-host adhesion.
【저자키워드】 neutralizing antibody, SARS-CoV-2, pathogen-host adhesion., force spectroscopy, 【초록키워드】 ACE2, coronavirus, Mutation, monoclonal antibody, mutations, variant, Infection, Delta, molecular dynamics, molecular mechanism, omicron, delta variant, virus, immunization, variants, Spike protein, Receptor binding domain, Probability, RBD, N501Y, Neutralizing, wild type, single-cell, binding, Interaction, host cell, acute respiratory syndrome, complex, human Angiotensin-converting enzyme, ACE2-RBD, S477N, effective, produced, highest, tested, addition, investigated, inhibit, the spike protein, adhere, destabilized, 【제목키워드】 variant, human ACE2, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, single-cell level,