ArticleNature communications2025
Unveiling the structural spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 fusion by in situ cryo-ET.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dissociation kinetics and avidity gate SARS-CoV-2 neutralization by HR2 stem helix antibodies.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- MemBrain v2: an end-to-end tool for the analysis of membranes in cryo-electron tomography.Nature methods · 2026Article
- Switching Spike Plasticity Shapes ACE2 Engagement Across SARS-CoV-2 Variants.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Directed evolution of a stem-helix-targeting antibody enables MERS-CoV cross-neutralization through enhanced binding affinity.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Article
- Broad Neutralizing Antibodies Against SARS-CoV-2: Current Progress and Engineering Strategies.Viruses · 2026Review
- Structural Advances in Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Implications for Vaccine and Antiviral Development.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Biophysical Sensing Tools in Drug Discovery: Integrating Kinetics, Thermodynamics, Cellular Target Engagement and Structure.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- TMPRSS2-mediated coronavirus spike activation and inhibition.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- Cryo-ET of IgG bivalent binding on SARS-CoV-2 provides structural basis for antibody avidity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Tracking the protein conformational motions driving HIV-1 membrane fusion.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- FcγR-ACE2 cooperative antibody-dependent enhancement in human and veterinary coronaviruses: mechanistic insights, comparative immunology, and implications for nano-engineered immunomodulatory platforms.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Review
- Biological Breakthroughs and Drug Discovery Revolution via Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Membrane Proteins.Membranes · 2025Review
- Effect of the S2' site cleavage on SARS-CoV-2 spike.Nature communications · 2025Article
- In situ cryo-electron microscopy and tomography of cellular and organismal samples.Current opinion in structural biology · 2025Review
- Viral glycoprotein-mediated entry and antibody-mediated immunity in HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells is mediated by the spike protein, which drives membrane fusion. While cryo-EM reveals stable prefusion and postfusion conformations of the spike, the transient fusion intermediate states during the fusion process remain poorly understood. Here, we design a near-native viral fusion system that recapitulates SARS-CoV-2 entry and use cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to capture fusion intermediates leading to complete fusion. The spike protein undergoes extensive structural rearrangements, progressing through extended, partially folded, and fully folded intermediates prior to fusion-pore formation, a process that depends on protease cleavage and is inhibited by the WS6 S2 antibody. Upon interaction with ACE2 receptor dimer, spikes cluster at membrane interfaces and following S2' cleavage concurrently transition to postfusion conformations encircling the hemifusion and initial fusion pores in a distinct conical arrangement. S2' cleavage is indispensable for advancing fusion intermediates to the fully folded postfusion state, culminating in membrane integration. Subtomogram averaging reveals that the WS6 S2 antibody binds to the spike's stem-helix, crosslinks and clusters prefusion spikes, as well as inhibits refolding of fusion intermediates. These findings elucidate the entire process of spike-mediated fusion and SARS-CoV-2 entry, highlighting the neutralizing mechanism of S2-targeting antibodies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.