Abstract
Under the severe situation of the current global epidemic, researchers have been working hard to find a reliable way to suppress the infection of the virus and prevent the spread of the epidemic. Studies have shown that the recognition and binding of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) by the receptor-binding domain (BRD) of spike protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 is a crucial step for SARS-CoV-2 to invade human receptor cells, and blocking this process can inhibit the virus from invading human normal cells. Plasma treatment can disrupt the structure of the RBD and effectively block the binding process. However, the mechanism by which plasma blocks the recognition and binding between the two is not clear. In this study, reaction process between reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plasma and the molecular model of RBD was simulated using a reactive molecular dynamics method. The results showed that the destruction of RBD molecule by ROS was triggered by hydrogen abstraction reactions. O and OH abstracted H atoms from RBD, while the H atoms of H2O2 and HO2 were abstracted by RBD. The hydrogen abstraction resulted in the breakage of C-H, N-H, O-H and C=O bonds and the formation of C=C, C=N bonds. The addition reaction of OH increased the number of O-H bonds and caused the formation of C-O, N-O and O-H bonds. The dissociation of N-H bonds led to the destruction of the original structure of peptide bonds and amino acid residues, change the type of amino acid residues, and caused the conversion of N-C and N=C, C=O and C-O. The simulation partially elucidated the microscopic mechanism of the interaction between ROS in plasma and the capsid protein of SARS-CoV-2, providing theoretical support for the control of SARS-CoV-2 infection by plasma, a contribution to overcoming the global epidemic problem.
Identification of Two Critical Amino Acid Residues of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Spike Protein for Its Variation in Zoonotic Tropism Transition via a Double Substitution Strategy