Spike Protein Rigid Motif shared by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV):
Flexible Conformations Predicted by using Supersecondary Structure Codes
Abstract
I compared the predicted and observed flexible conformations of SARS-CoV
and SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) spike proteins by using supersecondary
structure codes (SSSCs) and a comparison program of three
deep-neural-network-based prediction systems (SSSCPred200, SSSCPred100,
and SSSCPred). The SARS-CoV SSSC sequences predicted by the three
deep-neural-network-based systems well reproduced those of the Protein
Data Bank (PDB) data, including the structured loops. Only one common
identical motif (SSSC: SSSHSSHHHH) among all of the compared SSSC
sequences, including predicted and observed ones, was found at the S2
position. This motif has an extremely rare rigid conformation. The
antibody or ligand binding to the spike protein S2 of SARS-CoV near the
rigid motif may also have a more accessible effect on SARS-CoV-2 than
those binding to the receptor-binding motif of SARS-CoV have.