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SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 Indian variants: are electrostatic potential changes responsible for a higher transmission rate? (preprint)
biorxiv; 2021.
Preprint
in English
| bioRxiv | ID: ppzbmed-10.1101.2021.06.08.445535
ABSTRACT
Lineage B.1.617+, also known as G/452R.V3, is a recently described SARS-CoV-2 variant under investigation (VUI) firstly identified in October 2020 in India. As of May 2021, three sublineages labelled as B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3 have been already identified, and their potential impact on the current pandemic is being studied. This variant has 13 amino acid changes, three in its spike protein, which are currently of particular concern E484Q, L452R and P681R. Here we report a major effect of the mutations characterizing this lineage, represented by a marked alteration of the surface electrostatic potential (EP) of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of the spike protein. Enhanced RBD-EP is particularly noticeable in the B.1.617.2 sublineage, which shows multiple replacements of neutral or negatively-charged amino acids with positively-charged amino acids. We here hypothesize that this EP change can favor the interaction between the B.1.617+ RBD and the negatively-charged ACE2 thus conferring a potential increase in the virus transmission.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
bioRxiv
Main subject:
Migraine Disorders
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Preprint
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