Spike protein recognition of mammalian ACE2 predicts the host range and an optimized ACE2 for SARS-CoV-2 infection

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.03.047Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Pets (dog and cat), pangolin and Circetidae remained the key residues for association with S from SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.

  • The interface of the interaction between cat/dog/pangolin/Chinese hamster ACE2 and SARS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 RBD was simulated.

  • N82 of ACE2 showed a closer contact with SARS-CoV-2 S than M82, suggesting an optimized ACE2 for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 causes the recent global COVID-19 public health emergency. ACE2 is the receptor for both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. To predict the potential host range of SARS-CoV-2, we analyzed the key residues of ACE2 for recognizing S protein. We found that most of the selected mammals including pets (dog and cat), pangolin and Circetidae mammals remained the most of key residues for association with S protein from SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. The interaction interface between cat/dog/pangolin/Chinese hamster ACE2 and SARS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 S protein was simulated through homology modeling. We identified that N82 in ACE2 showed a closer contact with SARS-CoV-2 S protein than M82 in human ACE2. Our finding will provide important insights into the host range of SARS-CoV-2 and a new strategy to design an optimized ACE2 for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2
Spike protein
ACE2
Structure
Host range

Abbreviations

COVID-19
Corona Virus Disease 2019
SARS-CoV-2
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2
SARSr-CoV
SARS-related coronavirus
S
spike protein
M
membrane protein
E
envelope protein
N
nucleocapsid protein
ACE2
angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
RBM
receptor-binding motif
RBD
receptor-binding domain
JTT
Jones-Taylor-Thornton

Cited by (0)

1

Co-first author.

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