Tectonic conformational changes of a coronavirus spike glycoprotein promote membrane fusion
University of Washington · Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · +3 more institutions
Abstract
The tremendous pandemic potential of coronaviruses was demonstrated twice in the past few decades by two global outbreaks of deadly pneumonia. The coronavirus spike (S) glycoprotein initiates infection by promoting fusion of the viral and cellular membranes through conformational changes that remain largely uncharacterized. Here we report the cryoEM structure of a coronavirus S glycoprotein in the postfusion state, showing large-scale secondary, tertiary, and quaternary rearrangements compared with the prefusion trimer and rationalizing the free-energy landscape of this conformational machine. We also biochemically characterized the molecular events associated with refolding of the metastable prefusion S…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 39.35
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 64
Authors
7Topics & keywords
- Lipid bilayer fusion
- Coronavirus
- Glycoprotein
- Biology
- Viral entry
- Virology
- Protein subunit
- Protein structure
- Good health and well-being