Discover the molecule that allows the coronavirus to enter human cells

09/02/2021 19:19

• Clarín.com

• International

Updated 09/03/2021 10:39

The Spike (S) protein of SARS-Cov-2 is what allows the virus to enter human cells.

Now it has been discovered that this has on its edges polysaccharides called

glycans

that

act as doors in the virus

so that it can infect.

A study led by the

University of California, San Diego,

United States, and published by

Nature Chemistry

has used supercomputing to make an animated simulation that shows how this mechanism of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 works.

The team led by

Rommie Amaro

from the aforementioned university, discovered how glycans, which form a

sugary residue around protein S

, act as doors that open and close, without which "the virus is basically incapable of infection" .

Vaccination closes the "doors" opened by glycans due to the generation of antibodies.

The discovery of this "door" opens

possible avenues for new therapies

to counteract the SARS-CoV-2 infection, because if it could be pharmacologically blocked in the closed position, "it would effectively prevent the virus from opening to enter and become infected."

As the protein S has on its edges this glycan coating "

helps to trick the human immune system

, since it does not seem more than a sugary residue".

Digitized image of Covid-19.

Supercomputing simulations allowed the researchers to develop dynamic movies that revealed the activation of the glycan gates.

"

We were able to see the opening and closing,

" Amaro said.

The scientist stressed that "if you look only at the closed structure, and then you look at the open structure, it doesn't look like anything special. Just because

we captured the film of the whole process,

you really see how it works."

The Spike protein has a specific site (RBD) through which it binds to the ACE2 receptor on human cells, and the team discovered that

glycan N343

is the axis that moves RBD from "down" to "down." up "to allow access to ACE2.

A microscopic image of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Another of the study's authors,

Jason McLellan,

noted that the team recreated various variants of protein S and tested how the lack of the glycan gate affected the RBD's ability to open.

"

Without this gate

, protein S RBD cannot take the configuration it needs to infect cells."

With information from EFE.