Researchers at Northeastern say they’ve discovered how an antibody could provide broad protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19 — even as it evolves to outwit other of the body’s chemical defenses.
Researchers studied the structure of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 — the outer projections of the virus’ membrane that is responsible for viral entry into a human cell. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists were quick to identify how the spike protein helps hook the virus on to a cell, binding to an enzyme called the ACE-2 receptor.
But it wasn’t until researchers began studying the structure of the spike protein that they began to learn more about its somewhat limb-like design — that these protruding strands undergo a rearrangement as they “pull” a cell toward it and initiate fusion.
“For an infection to occur, the spike protein must jump out and grab a human cell,” says Paul Whitford, an associate professor of physics at Northeastern, who co-led the theoretical aspects of the study, published Thursday in Science.
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