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Enhanced Surface Accessibility of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Spike Protein Due to an Altered Glycosylation Profile.

Dongxia WangZijian ZhangJakub BaudysChristopher HaynesSarah H OsmanBin ZhouJohn R BarrJames C Gumbart
Published in: ACS infectious diseases (2024)
SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) proteins undergo extensive glycosylation, aiding in proper folding, enhancing stability, and evading host immune surveillance. In this study, we used mass spectrometric analysis to elucidate the N-glycosylation characteristics and disulfide bonding of recombinant spike proteins derived from the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) in comparison with the D614G spike variant. Furthermore, we conducted microsecond-long molecular dynamics simulations on spike proteins to resolve how the different N-glycans impact spike conformational sampling in the two variants. Our findings reveal that the Omicron spike protein maintains an overall resemblance to the D614G spike variant in terms of site-specific glycan processing and disulfide bond formation. Nonetheless, alterations in glycans were observed at certain N-glycosylation sites. These changes, in synergy with mutations within the Omicron spike protein, result in increased surface accessibility of the macromolecule, including the ectodomain, receptor-binding domain, and N-terminal domain. Additionally, mutagenesis and pull-down assays reveal the role of glycosylation of a specific sequon (N149); furthermore, the correlation of MD simulation and HDX-MS identified several high-dynamic areas of the spike proteins. These insights contribute to our understanding of the interplay between structure and function, thereby advancing effective vaccination and therapeutic strategies.
Keyphrases
  • sars cov
  • molecular dynamics simulations
  • binding protein
  • mass spectrometry
  • genome wide
  • molecular dynamics
  • gene expression
  • single cell
  • dna methylation
  • crispr cas
  • high throughput