ArticleeLife2021
N501Y mutation of spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 strengthens its binding to receptor ACE2.
Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 229 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
229 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 367 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding Mutations in Human SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein: A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis.Viruses · 2023Pooled it
- An Omicron-specific, self-amplifying mRNA booster vaccine for COVID-19: a phase 2/3 randomized trial.Nature medicine · 2024Trial
- Nanobodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 variants.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Characterization of recombinant genomes of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 between 2022 and 2023 in the department of Antioquia, ColombiaBiomedica : revista del Instituto Nacional de Salud · 2026Article
- Species- and variant-specific ACE2 compatibility shapes SARS-CoV-2 spillover potential in North American cervids.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Review
- The role of receptor binding and immunity in SARS-CoV-2 fitness landscape: A modeling study.iScience · 2026Article
- Molecular docking and dynamic simulation of marine natural products from soft coral-derived microbes against SARS-CoV-2 main protease and spike protein.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- RECUR: identifying recurrent amino acid substitutions from multiple sequence alignments.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The Unexpected Visibility of the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein Reveals a Hidden Route of Surface Trafficking.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Drugs against broad-spectrum of coronaviruses.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Article
- Structural and Functional Impacts of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutations: Insights From Predictive Modeling and Analytics.JMIR bioinformatics and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Structural Insights into the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Its Implications for Antibody Resistance.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Association of RBD mutations with COVID-19 disease severity in the Iranian population.Virus genes · 2025Article
- Association Between ABO Blood Groups and SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia, Spike Protein Mutations, and Thrombotic Events in COVID-19 Patients.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: structure, viral entry and variants.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Modulation of SARS-CoV-2 spike binding to ACE2 through conformational selection.Nature nanotechnology · 2025Article
- Substitution-Mutation Rate Ratio (c/µ) As Molecular Adaptation Test Beyond Ka/Ks: A SARS-COV-2 Case Study.Journal of molecular evolution · 2025Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 RBM Mutations N501Y and E484K on ACE2 Binding: A Combined Computational and Experimental Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
169 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading around the world for the past year. Recently, several variants such as B.1.1.7 (alpha), B.1.351 (beta), and P.1 (gamma), which share a key mutation N501Y on the receptor-binding domain (RBD), appear to be more infectious to humans. To understand the underlying mechanism, we used a cell surface-binding assay, a kinetics study, a single-molecule technique, and a computational method to investigate the interaction between these RBD (mutations) and ACE2. Remarkably, RBD with the N501Y mutation exhibited a considerably stronger interaction, with a faster association rate and a slower dissociation rate. Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-molecule force microscopy (SMFS) consistently quantified the interaction strength of RBD with the mutation as having increased binding probability and requiring increased unbinding force. Molecular dynamics simulations of RBD-ACE2 complexes indicated that the N501Y mutation introduced additional π-π and π-cation interactions that could explain the changes observed by force microscopy. Taken together, these results suggest that the reinforced RBD-ACE2 interaction that results from the N501Y mutation in the RBD should play an essential role in the higher rate of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and that future mutations in the RBD of the virus should be under surveillance.
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