D936Y and Other Mutations in the Fusion Core of the SARS-Cov-2 Spike Protein Heptad Repeat 1 Undermine the Post-Fusion Assembly

The iconic "red crown" of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is made of its spike (S) glycoprotein. The S protein is the Trojan horse of coronaviruses, mediating their entry into the host cells. While SARS-CoV-2 was becoming a global threat, scientists have been accumulating data on the virus at an impressive pace, both in terms of genomic sequences and of three-dimensional structures. On April 21st, the GISAID resource had collected 10,823 SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences. We extracted from them all the complete S protein sequences and identified point mutations thereof. Six mutations were located on a 14-residue segment (929-943) in the "fusion core" of the heptad repeat 1 (HR1). Our modeling in the pre- and post-fusion S protein conformations revealed, for three of them, the loss of interactions stabilizing the post-fusion assembly. On May 29th, the SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences in GISAID were 34,805. An analysis of the occurrences of the HR1 mutations in this updated dataset revealed a significant increase for the S929I and S939F mutations and a dramatic increase for the D936Y mutation, which was particularly widespread in Sweden and Wales/England. We notice that this is also the mutation causing the loss of a strong inter-monomer interaction, the D936-R1185 salt bridge, thus clearly weakening the post-fusion assembly.