The 2019 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) surface protein (Spike) S1 Receptor Binding Domain undergoes conformational change upon heparin binding

  1. Courtney Mycroft-West
  2. Dunhao Su
  3. Stefano Elli
  4. Yong Li
  5. Scott Guimond
  6. Gavin Miller
  7. Jeremy Turnbull
  8. Edwin Yates
  9. Marco Guerrini
  10. David Fernig
  11. Marcelo Lima
  12. Mark Skidmore

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Abstract

Many pathogens take advantage of the dependence of the host on the interaction of hundreds of extracellular proteins with the glycosaminoglycans heparan sulphate to regulate homeostasis and use heparan sulphate as a means to adhere and gain access to cells. Moreover, mucosal epithelia such as that of the respiratory tract are protected by a layer of mucin polysaccharides, which are usually sulphated. Consequently, the polydisperse, natural products of heparan sulphate and the allied polysaccharide, heparin have been found to be involved and prevent infection by a range of viruses including S-associated coronavirus strain HSR1. Here we use surface plasmon resonance and circular dichroism to measure the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 protein receptor binding domain (SARS-CoV-2 S1 RBD) and heparin. The data demonstrate an interaction between the recombinant surface receptor binding domain and the polysaccharide. This has implications for the rapid development of a first-line therapeutic by repurposing heparin and for next-generation, tailor-made, GAG-based antivirals.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.02.29.971093: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Collected data were analysed with Spectral Manager II software prior to processing with GraphPad Prism 7, using second order polynomial smoothing through 21 neighbours.
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    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.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

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

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.02.29.971093v2 on bioRxiv
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.02.29.971093v1 on bioRxiv