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. 2022 Jul 6;76:102439. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2022.102439

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Interplay between N-glycans and heparan sulfate in priming the spike for infection. In all panels, ACE2 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are displayed with yellow and cyan surfaces, respectively. The RBD is depicted with a transparent cyan surface. Glycans contributing to the glycan shield are illustrated with blue sticks. Hydrogen atoms have been hidden for clarity. a, The N-glycan at N343, highlighted in magenta, facilitates RBD opening, acting as a molecular crowbar. b, N-glycans at N165 and N234, depicted with orange and red sticks, respectively, stabilize the RBD in the “up” state, locking-and-loading the RBD for infection. c, N-glycans at N90 and N322 of ACE2, highlighted with yellow sticks, stabilize ACE2-RBD binding. d, HS, represented with per-atom-colored space filling spheres, modulate RBD opening and stabilization together with N-linked glycans (oxygen, red; hydrogen, white; nitrogen, blue; sulfur, yellow; carbons of N-acetyl-d-glucosamine residues, blue; and carbons of l-iduronic acid residues, brown).