Is the Rigidity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor-Binding Motif the Hallmark for Its Enhanced Infectivity? An Answer from All-Atoms Simulations

Angelo Spinello; Andrea Saltalamacchia; Alessandra Magistrato

doi:10.26434/chemrxiv.12091260.v3

Biological and Medicinal Chemistry

Search within Biological and Medicinal Chemistry

Is the Rigidity of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor-Binding Motif the Hallmark for Its Enhanced Infectivity? An Answer from All-Atoms Simulations

22 April 2020, Version 3

Working Paper

Show author details

This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The latest outbreak of a new pathogenic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is provoking a global health, economic and societal crisis. All-atom simulations enabled us to uncover the key molecular traits underlying the high affinity of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein towards its human receptor, providing a rationale to its high infectivity. Harnessing this knowledge can boost developing effective medical countermeasures to fight the current global pandemic.

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19

molecular dynamics

molecular recognition

vaccine design

Supplementary materials

Title

Description

Actions

Title

Supporting Information

Description

Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.