Hydrodynamics of spike proteins dictate a transport-affinity competition for SARS-CoV-2 and other enveloped viruses

  1. Nicolas Moreno
  2. Daniela Moreno-Chaparro
  3. Florencio Balboa Usabiaga
  4. Marco Ellero

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Abstract

Many viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 or Influenza, possess envelopes decorated with surface proteins (a.k.a. spikes ). Depending on the virus type, a large variability is present in the surface-proteins number, morphology and reactivity, which remains generally unexplained. Since viruses’ transmissibility depends on features beyond their genetic sequence, new tools are required to discern the effects of spikes functionality, interaction, and morphology. Here, we postulate the relevance of hydrodynamic interactions in the viral infectivity of enveloped viruses and propose micro-rheological characterization as a platform for virus differentiation. To understand how the spikes affect virion mobility and infectivity, we investigate the diffusivity of spike-decorated structures using mesoscopic-hydrodynamic simulations. Furthermore, we explored the interplay between affinity and passive viral transport. Our results revealed that the diffusional mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 is strongly influenced by the size and distribution of its spikes. We propose and validate a universal mechanism to explain the link between optimal virion structure and maximal infectivity for many virus families.

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  1. Version published to 10.1038/s41598-022-14884-6
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    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.03.474721: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

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    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
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    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.01.03.474721v1 on bioRxiv