#COVID SPIKE CODE#

Much research has focused on the virus’s genetic code and the mutations it has acquired as new variants emerge. The researchers also found that processing by the host cell changed the viral protein’s dynamics. The conformations seen in their computational simulations lined up with the types and frequencies of angles observed in experimental structural studies, the researchers said, lending support to the validity of the simulations.

The researchers documented several different conformations, including active and inactive forms, and mapped how the protein shifts from one form to another. They found that the protein has several “hinges” or moving parts, allowing the head of the protein to swivel on the stalk that sticks out from the virus. The atomistic simulations give researchers a glimpse of dynamics that affect how the protein interacts with receptors on cells it seeks to infect and with antibodies that seek to bind to it. Many studies have looked at the spike protein and its amino acid sequence, but knowledge of its structure has largely relied on static images, Tajkhorshid said. It also is the target of antibodies in those who have been vaccinated or recovered from infection. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is the protein that juts out from the surface of the virus and binds to receptors on the surface of human cells to infect them. Instead of using one static structure of the protein to search for drug-binding pockets, we want to reproduce its movements and use all of the relevant shapes it adopts to provide a more complete platform for screening drug candidates instead of just one structure.” We hope that the results of our simulations can be used for developing new treatments. “In order to have a realistic representation, you have to look at the protein at the atomic level. “The dynamics of a spike are very important – how much it moves and how flexible it is to search for and bind to receptors on the host cell,” said Tajkhorshid, who also is a member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. This is the first study to present such a detailed picture of the protein that plays a key role in COVID-19 infection and immunity, the researchers said.īiochemistry professor Emad Tajkhorshid, postdoctoral researcher Karan Kapoor and graduate student Tianle Chen published their findings in the journal PNAS. The researchers created an atomic-level computational model of the spike protein and ran multiple simulations to examine the protein’s dynamics and how the cell’s modifications affected those dynamics. When the coronavirus causing COVID-19 infects human cells, the cell’s protein-processing machinery makes modifications to the spike protein that render it more flexible and mobile, which could increase its ability to infect other cells and to evade antibodies, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found. In this case, a Japanese koto plays the main notes-soothing sounds that might bring some comfort in a time of trouble.CHAMPAIGN, Ill. They add that by comparing the musical sequence of the spike protein to a large database of other sonified proteins, it might be possible to one day find one that can stick to the spike-preventing the virus from infecting a cell.Īs for the instruments, they were entirely the researchers' choice. This, the researchers say, is faster and more intuitive than conventional methods used to study proteins, such as molecular modeling. Molecular vibrations due to heat also get their own sounds.īut why would you set a virus to music? The new format can help scientists find sites on the protein where antibodies or drugs might be able to bind-simply by searching for specific musical sequences that correspond to these sites. Researchers capture these features by altering the duration and volume of the notes. Using a new technique called sonification, scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology assigned each amino acid a unique note in a musical scale, converting the entire protein into a preliminary musical score.īut in real life, these amino acids tend to curl up into a helix or stretch out into a sheet. Like all proteins, the spikes are made of combinations of amino acids. The sounds you hear-the chiming bells, the twanging strings, the lilting flutes-all represent different aspects of the spikelike protein (above) that pokes from the virus' surface and helps it latch onto unsuspecting cells. Now, scientists have come up with a way for you to hear it: by translating the structure of its famous spike protein into music.

You've probably seen dozens of images of the novel coronavirus-now responsible for 1 million infections and tens of thousands of deaths. Science's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Covid spike