Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
Allosteric perspective on the mutability and druggability of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein
Zhen Wah Tan1, Wei-Ven Tee1, Firdaus Samsudin1
1Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A(∗)STAR), 30 Biopolis Street, #07-01, Matrix, Singapore 138671, Singapore.
Abstract:
Recent developments in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic point to its inevitable transformation into an endemic disease, urging both refinement of diagnostics for emerging variants of concern (VOCs) and design of variant-specific drugs in addition to vaccine adjustments. Exploring the structure and dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, we argue that the high-mutability characteristic of RNA viruses coupled with the remarkable flexibility and dynamics of viral proteins result in a substantial involvement of allosteric mechanisms. While allosteric effects of mutations should be considered in predictions and diagnostics of new VOCs, allosteric drugs advantageously avoid escape mutations via non-competitive inhibition originating from alternative distal locations. The exhaustive allosteric signaling and probing maps presented herein provide a comprehensive picture of allostery in the spike protein, making it possible to locate potential mutations that could work as new VOC "drivers" and to determine binding patches that may be targeted by newly developed allosteric drugs.
More Related Videos
08:49Incorporating Target Protein Structure Flexibility and Dynamics in Computational Drug Discovery Using Ensemble-Based Docking Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2025
06:39High-throughput Confocal Imaging of Quantum Dot-Conjugated SARS-CoV-2 Spike Trimers to Track Binding and Endocytosis in HEK293T Cells
Published on: April 21, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Cooperative Allosteric Transitions
Allosteric Proteins-ATCase
Aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of L-aspartate and carbamoyl phosphate to N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate. This reaction is the first step in pyrimidine biosynthesis. UTP and CTP, the end products of the pyrimidine synthesis...
Ligand Binding and Linkage
Leaky Scanning
Allosteric Regulation
Protein-Drug Binding: Mechanism and Kinetics
Various forces drive these interactions, including hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, ionic bonds, electrostatic interactions, and van der Waals forces. These bonds enable drugs to bind to specific sites on proteins,...