In situ structural analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike reveals flexibility mediated by three hinges

  1. Beata Turoňová
  2. Mateusz Sikora
  3. Christoph Schürmann
  4. Wim J. H. Hagen
  5. Sonja Welsch
  6. Florian E. C. Blanc
  7. Sören von Bülow
  8. Michael Gecht
  9. Katrin Bagola
  10. Cindy Hörner
  11. Ger van Zandbergen
  12. Jonathan Landry
  13. Nayara Trevisan Doimo de Azevedo
  14. Shyamal Mosalaganti
  15. Andre Schwarz
  16. Roberto Covino
  17. Michael D. Mühlebach
  18. Gerhard Hummer
  19. Jacomine Krijnse Locker
  20. Martin Beck

Reviewed by

Read the full article

Listed in

Log in to save this article

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein enables viral entry into host cells by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and is a major target for neutralizing antibodies. About 20 to 40 spikes decorate the surface of virions. Turoňová et al. now show that the spike is flexibly connected to the viral surface by three hinges that are well protected by glycosylation sites. The flexibility imparted by these hinges may explain how multiple spikes act in concert to engage onto the flat surface of a host cell.

Science , this issue p. 203

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1126/science.abd5223
  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.26.173476v2 on bioRxiv
  3. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.26.173476: (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

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.

    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

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.26.173476v1 on bioRxiv