Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 May;677(1):73-76.
doi: 10.1016/j.theochem.2004.02.018. Epub 2004 Apr 2.

Structural similarity between HIV-1 gp41 and SARS-CoV S2 proteins suggests an analogous membrane fusion mechanism

Affiliations

Structural similarity between HIV-1 gp41 and SARS-CoV S2 proteins suggests an analogous membrane fusion mechanism

Xue Wu Zhang et al. Theochem. 2004 May.

Abstract

SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) has been identified as the causal agent of a new emerging disease: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Its spike protein S2 is responsible for mediating fusion of viral and cellular membrane. In this study, we modeled the 3D structure of S2 subunit and compared this model with the core structure of gp41 from HIV-1. We found that SARS-CoV S2 and gp41 share the same two α helices, suggesting that the two viruses could follow an analogous membrane fusion mechanism. Further ligand-binding analysis showed that two inhibitors GGL and D-peptide from HIV-1 gp41 may serve as inhibitors for SARS-CoV entry.

Keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1; Inhibitor; SARS-CoV; Structural similarity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
3D model of SARS-CoV S2.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Comparison between gp41 from HIV-1 and SARS-CoV S2. N and C chains of gp41 are colored blue and yellow, respectively. S2 is colored white.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
(A) Binding interaction between S2 and inhibitor GGL (represented by spacefill). (B) Chemical structure of GGL, its formula is: C5H9NO4.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
(A) Binding interaction between S2 and D-peptide inhibitor of HIV-1 gp41 (represented by spacefill. (B) Chemical structure for two molecules of D-peptide DAL (5(C3H7NO2)) and DAR (2(C6H15N4O2)).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Liu S., Guo T., Ji X., Sun Z. Bioinformatical study on the proteomics and evolution of SARS-CoV. Chinese Science Bulletin. 2003;48:1277–1287. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gallagher T.M., Buchmeier M.J. Coronavirus spike proteins in viral entry and pathogenesis. Virology. 2001;279:371–374. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chan D.C., Fass D., Berger J.M., Kim P.S. Core structure of gp41 from the HIV envelope glycoprotein. Cell. 1997;89:263–273. - PubMed
    1. Gallaher W.R., Garry R.F. Model of the pre-insertion region of the spike (S2) fusion glycoprotein of the human SARS coronavirus: implications for antiviral therapeutics. Virology. 2003 http://www.virology.net/sars/s2model.html.
    1. Kliger Y., Levanon E.Y. Cloaked similarity between HIV-1 and SARS-CoV suggests an anti-SARS strategy. BMC Microbiology. 2003;3:20–26. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources