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Supramolecular Organization of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Virions Revealed by Coarse-Grained Models of Intact Virus Envelopes

Supramolecular Organization of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Virions Revealed by Coarse-Grained Models of Intact Virus Envelopes

Authors :
Beibei Wang
Changqing Zhong
D. Peter Tieleman
Source :
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
American Chemical Society (ACS), 2021.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic is causing a global health crisis and has already caused a devastating societal and economic burden. The pathogen, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has a high sequence and architecture identity with SARS-CoV, but far more people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2. Here, combining the structural data from cryo-electron microscopy and structure prediction, we constructed bottom-up Martini coarse-grained models of intact SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 envelopes. Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations were performed, allowing us to explore their dynamics and supramolecular organization. Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 envelopes present a spherical morphology, with structural proteins forming multiple string-like islands in the membrane and clusters between the heads of spike proteins. Critical differences between the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 envelopes are the interaction pattern between the spike proteins and the flexibility of the spike proteins. Our models provide structural and dynamic insights into the SARS virus envelopes and could be used for further investigation, such as drug design and membrane fusion and fission processes.

Details

ISSN :
1549960X and 15499596
Volume :
62
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....95bc256044f3bd8e7cc68fd5492e4750
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.1c01240