Molecular-level anatomy of SARS-CoV-2 for the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 is currently spreading all over the world, and causing enormous damage to health, economies, and daily lives. In order to overcome this pandemic, huge amounts of work have been accomplished, and many papers published. However, most of these works are from medical institutes and/ or hospitals, and the attempts to solve this tragedy by chemical approaches have been rather scarce. This account surveys chemical information on COVID-19 with special emphasis on molecular-level understanding. In the first part, the fundamentals of causative pathogen SARS-CoV-2 (structures of genome and proteins of this virus) are briefly described. Next, the molecular structure of the spike on the viral surface, the key component for the infection of human beings, is shown. Then, the binding mode of these spikes to the receptors on human cells (ACE2) is presented in detail, based on the structural data. The conformational change of spike proteins is critically important for the virus to enter human cells. Furthermore, the roles of mutation of SARS-CoV-2 in the promotion of pathogenicity are discussed primarily in terms of the spike/ACE2 interactions. Finally, the origins of unprecedentedly high pathogenicity of this virus are proposed. This account should help the readers to understand the current status of our chemical knowledge on COVID-19, promoting the research to attack the worst pandemic of the last 100 years.