SPIKE-ACE2 interaction

Spike- ACE-2 Interaction The SARS-CoV-2 virus requires the presence of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE-2) to enter human cells. For this it uses the region called the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD), specifically the Receptor Binding Motif (RBM). ECA-2 also possesses an RBD that binds a variety of Coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2. When binding occurs, three structural changes occur in SPIKE: 1) A hydrophobic sequence called Fusion Protein (FP), which localizes to the virus membrane site, is activated. 2) PDB moves to dock to ECA-2 3) The binding site to a new antibody called S2H97, which has the ability to block SPIKE binding to ECA-2, is discovered.