Structure and binding properties of Pangolin-CoV spike glycoprotein inform the evolution of SARS-CoV-2
Antoni G. Wrobel, D.J. Benton, Pengqi Xu, Lesley J. Calder, Annabel Borg, Chloë Roustan, Stephen R. Martin, Peter B. Rosenthal, J.J. Skehel, S.J. Gamblin
Abstract
Coronaviruses of bats and pangolins have been implicated in the origin and evolution of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2. We show that spikes from Guangdong Pangolin-CoVs, closely related to SARS-CoV-2, bind strongly to human and pangolin ACE2 receptors. We also report the cryo-EM structure of a Pangolin-CoV spike protein and show it adopts a fully-closed conformation and that, aside from the Receptor-Binding Domain, it resembles the spike of a bat coronavirus RaTG13 more than that of SARS-CoV-2.
Topics & Concepts
PangolinSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)CoronavirusSpike (software development)BiologyCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Glycoprotein2019-20 coronavirus outbreakEvolutionary biologyBetacoronavirusSpike ProteinSequence alignmentVirologyComputational biologyGeneticsPeptide sequenceComputer scienceMedicineGeneEcologyOutbreakInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseaseSoftware engineeringPathologySARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchViral Infections and Outbreaks ResearchAnimal Virus Infections Studies