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Revealing the mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding with ACE2.

Yixin XieDan DuChitra B KarkiWenhan GuoAlan E Lopez-HernandezShengjie SunBrenda Y JuarezHaotian LiJun WangLin Li
Published in: Computing in science & engineering (2020)
A large population in the world has been infected by COVID-19. Understanding the mechanisms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is important for management and treatment of the COVID-19. When it comes to the infection process, one of the most important proteins in SARS-CoV-2 is the spike (S) protein, which is able to bind to human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and initializes the entry of the host cell. In this study, we implemented multi-scale computational approaches to study the electrostatic features of the interfaces of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) and ACE2. The simulations and analyses were performed on high-performance computing resources in Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Our study identified key residues on the SARS-CoV-2, which can be used as targets for future drug design. The results shed lights on future drug design and therapeutic targets for COVID-19.
Keyphrases
  • sars cov
  • respiratory syndrome coronavirus
  • angiotensin converting enzyme
  • coronavirus disease
  • angiotensin ii
  • stem cells
  • emergency department
  • single cell
  • transcription factor
  • adverse drug