Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
Virus Res. 2022 Sep;318:198845. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2022.198845. Epub 2022 Jun 6.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection presents an immense global health problem. Spike (S) protein of coronavirus is the primary determinant of its entry into the host as it consists of both receptor binding and fusion domain. Besides tissue tropism, and host range, coronavirus pathogenesis are primarily controlled by the interaction of S protein with the cell receptor. Moreover, the proteolytic activation of S protein by host cell proteases plays a decisive role. The host-cell proteases have shown to be involved in the proteolysis of S protein and cleaving it into two functional subunits, S1 and S2, during the maturation process. In the present study, the interaction of the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 with different host proteases like furin, cathepsin B, and plasmin has been analyzed using molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Incorporation of the furin cleavage site (R-R-A-R) in the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 has been studied by mutating the individual amino acid. MD simulation results suggest the polytropic nature of the S protein. Our analysis indicated that a single amino acid substitution in the polybasic cleavage site of S protein perturb the binding of cellular proteases. This mutation study might help to generate an attenuated SARS-CoV-2. Besides, targeting host proteases by inhibitors may result in a practical approach to stop the cellular spread of SARS-CoV-2 and develop its antiviral.
严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2(SARS-CoV-2)感染是一个巨大的全球健康问题。冠状病毒的刺突(S)蛋白是其进入宿主的主要决定因素,因为它包含受体结合和融合结构域。除了组织嗜性和宿主范围外,冠状病毒的发病机制主要受 S 蛋白与细胞受体相互作用的控制。此外,宿主细胞蛋白酶对 S 蛋白的蛋白水解激活起着决定性的作用。宿主细胞蛋白酶已被证明参与 S 蛋白的蛋白水解,并在成熟过程中将其切割成两个功能亚单位,S1 和 S2。在本研究中,使用分子对接和分子动力学(MD)模拟分析了 SARS-CoV-2 的 S 蛋白与不同宿主蛋白酶(如弗林蛋白酶、组织蛋白酶 B 和纤溶酶)的相互作用。通过突变单个氨基酸来研究 SARS-CoV-2 S 蛋白中弗林蛋白酶切割位点(R-R-A-R)的掺入情况。MD 模拟结果表明 S 蛋白具有多态性。我们的分析表明,S 蛋白多碱性切割位点的单个氨基酸取代会破坏细胞蛋白酶的结合。这项突变研究可能有助于产生减毒的 SARS-CoV-2。此外,通过抑制剂靶向宿主蛋白酶可能是阻止 SARS-CoV-2 细胞传播和开发其抗病毒药物的一种实用方法。