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All available SARS-CoV-2 spike protein crystal and cryo-EM structures have shown missing electron densities for cytosolic C-terminal regions (CTR). Generally, the missing electron densities point towards the intrinsically disordered nature of the protein region (IDPR). This curiosity has led us to investigate the cytosolic CTR of the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 in isolation. The spike CTR is supposed to be from 1235 to 1273 residues or 1242-1273 residues based on our used prediction. Therefore, we have demonstrated the structural conformation of cytosolic region and its dynamics through computer simulations up to microsecond timescale using OPLS and CHARMM forcefields. The simulations have revealed the unstructured conformation of cytosolic region. Further, we have validated our computational observations with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy-based experiments and found its signature spectra at 198 nm. We believe that our findings will surely help in understanding the structure-function relationship of the spike protein's cytosolic region.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.virol.2021.11.005

Type

Journal article

Journal

Virology

Publication Date

01/2022

Volume

566

Pages

42 - 55

Keywords

Conformational dynamics, Cytosolic domain, SARS-CoV-2, Secondary structure, Spike, COVID-19, Circular Dichroism, Cryoelectron Microscopy, Humans, Models, Molecular, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Protein Binding, Protein Conformation, Protein Domains, SARS-CoV-2, Spectrum Analysis, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus, Structure-Activity Relationship