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American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, 6541(372), p. 525-530, 2021

DOI: 10.1126/science.abf2303

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Structural impact on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by D614G substitution

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

How an early variant got ahead Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiologists have monitored the evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with particular focus on the spike protein. An early variant with an aspartic acid (D) to glycine (G) mutation at position 614, D614G, rapidly became dominant and is maintained in current variants of concern. Zhang et al. investigated the structural basis for the increased spread of this variant, which does so even though it binds less tightly to the host receptor (see the Perspective by Choe and Farzan). Structural and biochemical studies on a full-length G614 spike trimer showed that there are interactions not present in D614 that prevent premature loss of the S1 subunit that binds angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. This stabilization effectively increases the number of spikes that can facilitate infection. Science , this issue p. 525 ; see also p. 466