Allosteric perspective on the mutability and druggability of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein

ABSTRACT

Recent developments in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic point to its inevitable transformation into an endemic disease, urging both diagnostics of emerging variants of concern (VOCs) and design of the variant-specific drugs in addition to vaccine adjustments. Exploring the structure and dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, we argue that the high mutability characteristic of RNA viruses coupled with the remarkable flexibility and dynamics of viral proteins result in a substantial involvement of allosteric mechanisms. While allosteric effects of mutations should be considered in predictions and diagnostics of new VOCs, allosteric drugs advantageously avoid escaping mutations via non-competitive inhibition originating from many alternative distal locations. The exhaustive allosteric signalling and probing maps provide a comprehensive picture of allostery in the Spike protein, making it possible to locate sites of potential mutations that could work as new VOCs "drivers", and to determine binding patches that may be targeted by newly developed allosteric drugs.