Rapid Assessment of Binding Affinity of SARS-COV-2 Spike Protein to the Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 Receptor and to Neutralizing Biomolecules Based on Computer Simulations

Damiano Buratto, Abhishek Saxena, Qun Ji, Guang Yang, Sergio Pantano, Francesco Zonta*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 infects humans and causes Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The S1 domain of the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 binds to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) via its receptor-binding domain, while the S2 domain facilitates fusion between the virus and the host cell membrane for entry. The spike glycoprotein of circulating SARS-CoV-2 genomes is a mutation hotspot. Some mutations may affect the binding affinity for hACE2, while others may modulate S-glycoprotein expression, or they could result in a virus that can escape from antibodies generated by infection with the original variant or by vaccination. Since a large number of variants are emerging, it is of vital importance to be able to rapidly assess their characteristics: while changes of binding affinity alone do not always cause direct advantages for the virus, they still can provide important insights on where the evolutionary pressure is directed. Here, we propose a simple and cost-effective computational protocol based on Molecular Dynamics simulations to rapidly screen the ability of mutated spike protein to bind to the hACE2 receptor and selected neutralizing biomolecules. Our results show that it is possible to achieve rapid and reliable predictions of binding affinities. A similar approach can be used to perform preliminary screenings of the potential effects of S-RBD mutations, helping to prioritize the more time-consuming and expensive experimental work.

Original languageEnglish
Article number730099
JournalFrontiers in Immunology
Volume12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Nov 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Spike-RBD
  • binding affinity
  • human ACE2
  • molecular dynamics
  • neutralizing antibodies
  • protein-protein interaction

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