Introduction: To investigate the potential change in binding affinity associated with the
N501Y mutation, we have modeled both the SARS-CoV-2
spike protein and its
N501Y mutant binding with wild-type human ACE2 (hACE2) and a previously reported T27Y/
L79T/
N330Y mutant of ACE2 (known as ACE2.v2.4) which has a 40-fold increased binding affinity with the wild-type
spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
Method: In brief, using the cryo-EM structure (RCSB: 7KMB) of the
spike/ACE2 complex, after the energy-minimization, the reported mutant of the
spike mutant (
N501Y) or ACE2 mutant (ACE2v2 and ACE2.v2.4) in the
spike/ACE2 complex was reconstructed using the PyMol m