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SARS-CoV-2 S Protein Homology to SARS-CoV S Protein

  • overall low homology between SARS-CoV-2 S Protein and SARS-CoV S Protein
  • amino acid sequence identity of the spike proteins is 76.47%
  • patches of sequences in RBD show high homology
  • amino acid residues at positions 442, 472, 479, 487, and 491 are key to human transmission of the virus
  • only Tyr491 is conserved in SARS-CoV-2 S protein; the remaining 4 residues are replaced by other residues of similar properties
  • therefore, because the structure of the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 S protein remained the same as SARS-CoV S protein, ACE2 binding is possible and SARS-CoV-2 S protein actually binds with higher binding affinity than SARS-CoV S protein

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Updated 2021-01-15

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SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)

Biomedical Sciences