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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infects cells through binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). This interaction is mediated by the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike (S) glycoprotein. Structural and dynamic data have shown that S can adopt multiple conformations, which controls the exposure of the ACE2-binding site in the RBD. Here, using single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) imaging, we report the effects of ACE2 and antibody binding on the conformational dynamics of S from the Wuhan-1 strain and in the presence of the D614G mutation. We find that D614G modulates the energetics of the RBD position in a manner similar to ACE2 binding. We also find that antibodies that target diverse epitopes, including those distal to the RBD, stabilize the RBD in a position competent for ACE2 binding. Parallel solution-based binding experiments using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) indicate antibody-mediated enhancement of ACE2 binding. These findings inform on novel strategies for therapeutic antibody cocktails.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75433 | DOI Listing |
Phys Chem Chem Phys
September 2025
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, P. R. China.
The COVID-19 pandemic remains a global health crisis, with successive SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibiting enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion. Notably, the Omicron variant harbors extensive mutations in the spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD), altering viral fitness. While temperature is a critical environmental factor modulating viral stability and transmission, its molecular-level effects on variant-specific RBD-human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) interactions remain underexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntiviral Res
September 2025
Department of Immunology and Pathogen Biology, Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Host-Interactions, Ministry of Education, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200331, China. Electronic address:
DMBT1 is a large scavenger receptor cysteine rich (SRCR) B protein that has been reported as a tumor suppressor gene and a co-receptor for HIV-1 infection. Here, we found DMBT1 is a major mucosal protein bound to SARS-CoV-2. Overexpression of DMBT1 in 293T cells may enhanced infection by SARS-CoV-2 in ACE2 dependent manner.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbioRxiv
August 2025
Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA, Broad Institute of MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA, Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
A key goal of vaccinology is to train the immune system to combat current pathogens while simultaneously preparing it for future evolved variants. Understanding factors contributing to anticipatory breadth, wherein affinity maturation against an ancestral strain yields neutralization capacity against evolved variants, is therefore of great importance. Here, we investigated the mechanism of anticipatory breadth development in a public antibody family targeting the functionally restricted ACE2 binding site on SARS-CoV-2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Microbiol
August 2025
College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China. Electronic address:
Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) is one of the major pathogen causing swine diarrhea, inducing acute severe atrophic enteritis and lethal watery diarrhea in neonatal piglets with up to 100 % mortality, resulting in significant economic losses to the swine industry. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is known as an invasion receptor for SARS-CoV-2, but its role in TGEV infection remains unclear, and the current understanding of TGEV infection mechanisms is incomplete. In this study, we identified an important role for porcine ACE2 (pACE2) in TGEV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Soc Trans
September 2025
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
Deep mutational scanning (DMS), a high-throughput method leveraging next-generation sequencing, has been crucial in mapping the functional landscapes of key severe acquired respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) proteins. By systematically assessing thousands of amino acid changes, DMS provides a framework to understand Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding and immune evasion by the spike protein, mechanisms and drug escape potential of the main and papain-like viral proteases and has highlighted areas of concern in the nucleocapsid protein that may affect most currently available rapid antigen testing kits. Each application has required the design of bespoke assays in eukaryotic (yeast and mammalian) cell models, providing an exemplar for the application of this technique to future pandemics.
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