Abstract
Coronaviruses of bats and pangolins have been implicated in the origin and evolution of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2. We show that spikes from Guangdong Pangolin-CoVs, closely related to SARS-CoV-2, bind strongly to human and pangolin ACE2 receptors. We also report the cryo-EM structure of a Pangolin-CoV spike protein and show it adopts a fully-closed conformation and that, aside from the Receptor-Binding Domain, it resembles the spike of a bat coronavirus RaTG13 more than that of SARS-CoV-2.
Publication types
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 / metabolism
- Animals
- Binding, Competitive
- COVID-19 / epidemiology
- COVID-19 / prevention & control*
- COVID-19 / virology
- Cryoelectron Microscopy
- Evolution, Molecular*
- Humans
- Models, Molecular
- Pandemics
- Pangolins / virology
- Protein Binding
- Protein Domains
- SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
- SARS-CoV-2 / metabolism
- SARS-CoV-2 / physiology
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / chemistry
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics*
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / metabolism
Substances
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
- spike protein, SARS-CoV-2
- ACE2 protein, human
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2