Glycosaminoglycan binding motif at S1/S2 proteolytic cleavage site on spike glycoprotein may facilitate novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) host cell entry

So Young Kim; Weihua Jin; Amika Sood; David W. Montgomery; Oliver C. Grant; Mark M. Fuster; Li Fu; Jonathan S. Dordick; Robert J. Woods; Fuming Zhang; Robert J. Linhardt

This discovery prompted us to hypothesize that GAGs may contribute to SARS-CoV-2 fusion activation and host cell entry as a novel mechanism through SGP binding. We performed surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based binding assays to determine binding kinetics of the interactions between various GAGs and SARS-CoV-2 SGP in comparison with SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV SGP to address this question. Lastly, we performed blind docking on the trimeric SARS-CoV-2 SGP model to objectively identify the preferred binding GAG-binding sites on the SGP. author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.