In the paper “S494 O-glycosylation site on the SARS-CoV-2 RBD affects the virus affinity to ACE2 and its infectivity; a molecular dynamics study“, the role of a novel mutated O‑glycosylation site (D494S) on the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of S protein has been reported.
The site was suggested as a key mediator of virus‑host interaction. By exploring the dynamics of three O‑glycosylated models and the control systems of unglcosylated S4944 and S494D complexes, it was shown that the decoration of S494 with elongated O‑glycans results in stabilized interactions on the direct RBD‑ACE2.
Shadi Rahnam and Maryam Azimzadeh have published their results on SARS CoV 2 in the journal of Scientific Reports