Hidden in Plain Sight: Natural Products of Commensal Microbiota as an Environmental Selection Pressure for the Rise of New Variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Chembiochem
; 22(20): 2946-2950, 2021 10 13.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1310453
ABSTRACT
Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, little attention has been paid to the interplay between the interaction of virus and commensal microbiota. Here, we used molecular docking and dynamics simulations to study the interaction of some of the known metabolites and natural products (NPs) produced by commensal microbiota with the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. The results predict that NPs of commensal microbiota such as bile acids and non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs), of which some are siderophores, bind to the wild-type RBD and interfere with its binding to the ACE2 receptor. N501Y mutation, which is present in many of the emerging variants of the virus, abolishes the predicted binding pocket of bile acids and NRPs. Based on these findings, available experimental data showing that bile acids reduce the binding affinity of wild-type RBD to the ACE2 receptor, and the data suggesting that the respiratory tract microbiota affect viral infection we put forward the following proposal mutations such as N501Y enable the RBD to bind to the ACE2 receptor more effectively in the presence of NPs produced by the respiratory tract bacteria thereby, increasing the infectivity rate of the virus. We hope our data stimulate future works to better understand the interactions of NPs produced by commensal microbiota with respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Genetic Variation
/
Biological Products
/
Microbiota
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Chembiochem
Journal subject:
Biochemistry
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cbic.202100346
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