Since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, scientists have been aggressively exploring the secrets of the mechanisms that allow SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, to enter and infect healthy human cells.
Early in the pandemic, Rommie Amaro, a computational biophysical chemist from the University of California (UC) San Diego, USA, helped develop a detailed visualization of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that efficiently attaches to human cell receptors.
Now, Amaro and colleagues from UC San Diego, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas at Austin, Columbia University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have discovered how glycans, molecules that form sweet residues around the edges of spike proteins, act as a gateway to infection.
Amaro and his colleagues' research is published in the journal Nature Chemistry. In the study, published on August 19, described the discovery of a glycan 'gateway' that opens to allow entry of SARS-CoV-2.
"We basically discovered how spikes actually open and infect. We've unlocked an important secret about how spikes infect cells. Without this 'gateway', viruses are essentially incapable of infecting," he explained as quoted by USCDNews, Tuesday (24/8/2021). ).
Amaro believes the discovery of this 'gateway' will open up potential avenues for new therapies against SARS-CoV-2 infection. If the glycan gate can be locked pharmacologically in the closed position, then the virus is effectively prevented from opening to entry and infection.
The glycan coating on the spike protein helps fool the human immune system because it is nothing more than sugar residue. Previous technologies that imaged these structures depicted glycans in a statically open or closed position, which initially did not attract much interest from scientists.
Supercomputer simulations then allowed the researchers to develop a dynamic video display that revealed a glycan gate that activates from one position to another, offering an unprecedented part of the infection story.
"We can actually see the opening and closing. That's one of the really cool things that this simulation shows, namely the ability to see very detailed videos," said Amaro.
