Towards the understanding of the Interaction between the Spike Fusion Region and the cell Plasma Membrane

SARS-CoV-2 is an encapsulated virus responsible for a lethal respiratory illness since its outbreak at the end of 2019. Interestingly, the fusion domain of the spike protein triggers the fusion between viral and host membranes, initializing the infection. However, the molecular mechanism regulating this process has not been deeply understood. Our approach to date has been to study the interaction of several putative fusion peptides at or near the N-terminus of S2 subunit with model membranes in the form of monolayers, composed of cholesterol and natural lipids extracted from yeast cells. A combination of different X-ray surface scattering methods available at ID10 beamline (XRR, GISAXS, and GIXD) will help to answer questions still not answered such as how does the fusion region induces the reorganization of the lipid packing, as well as, how is the fusion process modulated by lipid composition and environmental factors such as the presence of divalent cations.