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Cao Y, Choi YK, Frank M, Woo H, Park SJ, Yeom MS, Seok C, Im W
J Chem Theory Comput 17 (10) 6559-6569 [2021-10-12; online 2021-09-16]
The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presents a public health crisis, and the vaccines that can induce highly potent neutralizing antibodies are essential for ending the pandemic. The spike (S) protein on the viral envelope mediates human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 binding and thus is the target of a variety of neutralizing antibodies. In this work, we built various S trimer-antibody complex structures on the basis of the fully glycosylated S protein models described in our previous work and performed all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to gain insight into the structural dynamics and interactions between S protein and antibodies. Investigation of the residues critical for S-antibody binding allows us to predict the potential influence of mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants. Comparison of the glycan conformations between S-only and S-antibody systems reveals the roles of glycans in S-antibody binding. In addition, we explored the antibody binding modes and the influences of antibody on the motion of S protein receptor binding domains. Overall, our analyses provide a better understanding of S-antibody interactions, and the simulation-based S-antibody interaction maps could be used to predict the influences of S mutation on S-antibody interactions, which will be useful for the development of vaccine and antibody-based therapy.
PubMed 34529436
DOI 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00552
Crossref 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00552