Structure and Mutations of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein: A Focused Overview.

ABSTRACT: The spike protein (S-protein) of SARS-CoV-2, the protein that enables the virus to infect human cells, is the basis for many vaccines and a hotspot of concerning virus evolution. Here, we discuss the outstanding progress in structural characterization of the S-protein and how these structures facilitate analysis of virus function and evolution. We emphasize the differences in reported structures and that analysis of structure-function relationships is sensitive to the structure used. We show that the average residue solvent exposure in nearly complete structures is a good descriptor of open vs closed conformation states. Because of structural heterogeneity of functionally important surface-exposed residues, we recommend using averages of a group of high-quality protein structures rather th

SUBMITTER: Mehra R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8673470 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature