The effect of N-glycosylation of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on the virus interaction with the host cell ACE2 receptor

• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103272
• Publication Date: 2021-10-14T02:15:10Z
• Authors: Chuncui Huang; Zeshun Tan; Keli Zhao; Wenjun Zou; Hui Wang; Huanyu Gao; Shiwei Sun; Dongbo Bu; Wengang Chai; Yan Li
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 570; SITES; Science & Technology; Protein; Science; Q; 610; Computer simulation; Article; L-SIGN; 3. Good health; Multidisciplinary Sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Virology; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Structural biology

The densely glycosylated spike (S) protein highly exposed on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) surface mediates host cell entry by binding to the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). However, the role of glycosylation has not been fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of different N-glycosylation of S1 protein on its binding to ACE2. Using real-time surface plasmon resonance assay the negative effects were demonstrated by the considerable increase of binding affinities of de-N-glycosylated S1 proteins produced from three different expression systems including baculovirus-insect, Chinese hamster ovarian and two variants of human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Molecular dynamic simulations of the S1 protein-ACE2 receptor complex revealed the steric hindrance and Coulombic repulsion effects of different types of N-glycans on the S1 protein interaction with ACE2. The results should contribute to future pathological studies of SARS-CoV-2 and therapeutic development of Covid-19, particularly using recombinant S1 proteins as models.