Professor Robert Woods
Chemistry -Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
University of Georgia
Athens, GA

Monday, February 8, 2021
3:00 pm (CT)
Zoom webinar recording

Abstract

Viral envelope proteins frequently cloak their surfaces with N-linked glycans in order to evade host immune surveillance, and to suppress the number of viable immunogenic sequences. However, some level of exposure of the surface of the adhesion domain is essential for binding to the host, and thus glycan shielding of these regions can’t be exploited without the potential of reducing viral fitness. Remarkably in the case of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein glycosylation also appears to serve a functional role by promoting adhesion to the host receptor protein angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The mechanisms of the roles of glycosylation in modulating the antigenicity and infectivity of SARS- CoV-2 are examined using molecular dynamics simulations of the glycoproteins, and probed by in vitro deglycosylation experiments.