Michele Monti, Edoardo Milanetti, Myrthe T Frans, Mattia Miotto, Lorenzo Di Rienzo, Maksim V Baranov, Giorgio Gosti, Arun Kumar Somavarapu, Madhu Nagaraj, Thaddeus W Golbek, Emiel Rossing, Sam J Moons, Thomas J Boltje, Geert van den Bogaart, Tobias Weidner, Daniel E Otzen, Gian Gaetano Tartaglia, Giancarlo Ruocco, Steven J Roeters
It is not well understood why severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 spreads much faster than other β-coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV. In a previous publication, we predicted the binding of the N-terminal domain (NTD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike to sialic acids (SAs). Here, we experimentally validate this interaction and present simulations that reveal a second possible interaction between SAs and the spike protein via a binding site located in the receptor-binding domain (RBD)...
January 8, 2024: Journal of Physical Chemistry. B