Immunological, structural, and preliminary X-ray diffraction characterizations of the fusion core of the SARS-coronavirus spike protein.
The SARS-CoV spike protein, a glycoprotein essential for viral entry, is a primary target for vaccine and drug development. Two peptides denoted HR-N(SN50) and HR-C(SC40), corresponding to the Leu/Ile/Val-rich heptad-repeat regions from the N-terminal and C-terminal segments of the SARS-CoV spike S2 sequence, respectively, were synthesized and predicted to form trimeric assembly of hairpin-like structures. The polyclonal antibodies produced by recombinant S2 protein were tested for antigenicity of the two heptad repeats. We report here the first crystallographic study of the SARS spike HR-N/HR-C complex. The crystal belongs to the triclinic space group P1 and the data-set collected to 2.98 A resolution showed noncrystallographic pseudo-222 and 3-fold symmetries. Based on these data, comparative modeling of the SARS-CoV fusion core was performed. The immunological and structural information presented herein may provide a more detailed understanding of the viral fusion mechanism as well as the development of effective therapy against SARS-CoV infection.
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ROC.
Chun-Hua
CH
Hsu
Tzu-Ping
TP
Ko
Hui-Ming
HM
Yu
Tswen-Kei
TK
Tang
Shui-Tsung
ST
Chen
Andrew H-J
AH
Wang
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011817:Rabbits; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000378:metabolism*; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D017356:Synchrotrons; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction / Q000379:methods*
D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D010455:Peptides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins; C578557:spike glycoprotein, SARS-CoV