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Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
Yeast surface display-based identification of ACE2 mutations that modulate SARS-CoV-2 spike binding across multiple
Pete Heinzelman1, Jonathan C Greenhalgh1,2, Philip A Romero1,2
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Abstract:
Understanding how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) interacts with different mammalian angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) cell entry receptors elucidates determinants of virus transmission and facilitates development of vaccines for humans and animals. Yeast display-based directed evolution identified conserved ACE2 mutations that increase spike binding across multiple species. Gln42Leu increased ACE2-spike binding for human and four of four other mammalian ACE2s; Leu79Ile had an effect for human and three of three mammalian ACE2s. These residues are highly represented, 83% for Gln42 and 56% for Leu79, among mammalian ACE2s. The above findings can be important in protecting humans and animals from existing and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
