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Binding of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein to Glycans

Wei Hao, Bo Ma, Ziheng Li, Xiaoyu Wang, Xiaopan Gao, Yaohao Li, Bo Qin, Shiying Shang, Sheng Cui, Zhongping Tan
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.17.100537
Wei Hao
1NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Center for AIDS Research, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
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Bo Ma
2State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
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Ziheng Li
1NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Center for AIDS Research, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
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Xiaoyu Wang
2State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
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Xiaopan Gao
1NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Center for AIDS Research, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
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Yaohao Li
2State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
3Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80303, United States
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Bo Qin
1NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Center for AIDS Research, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
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Shiying Shang
4School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Sheng Cui
1NHC Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology and Center for AIDS Research, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China
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  • For correspondence: cui.sheng@ipb.pumc.edu.cn zhongping.tan@imm.pumc.edu.cn
Zhongping Tan
2State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
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  • For correspondence: cui.sheng@ipb.pumc.edu.cn zhongping.tan@imm.pumc.edu.cn
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Abstract

The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 has caused a high number of deaths in the world. To combat it, it is necessary to develop a better understanding of how the virus infects host cells. Infection normally starts with the attachment of the virus to cell-surface glycans like heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides. In this study, we examined and compared the binding of the subunits and spike (S) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV to these glycans. Our results revealed that the S proteins and subunits can bind to HS in a sulfation-dependent manner, the length of HS is not a critical factor for the binding, and no binding with sialic acid residues was detected. Overall, this work suggests that HS binding may be a general mechanism for the attachment of these coronaviruses to host cells, and supports the potential importance of HS in infection and in the development of antiviral agents against these viruses.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Manuscript and supporting information substantially revised

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted July 02, 2020.
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Binding of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein to Glycans
Wei Hao, Bo Ma, Ziheng Li, Xiaoyu Wang, Xiaopan Gao, Yaohao Li, Bo Qin, Shiying Shang, Sheng Cui, Zhongping Tan
bioRxiv 2020.05.17.100537; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.17.100537
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Binding of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein to Glycans
Wei Hao, Bo Ma, Ziheng Li, Xiaoyu Wang, Xiaopan Gao, Yaohao Li, Bo Qin, Shiying Shang, Sheng Cui, Zhongping Tan
bioRxiv 2020.05.17.100537; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.17.100537

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