Presence of a SARS-CoV-2 Protein Enhances Amyloid Formation of Serum Amyloid A

J Phys Chem B. 2021 Aug 19;125(32):9155-9167. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c04871. Epub 2021 Aug 9.

Abstract

A marker for the severeness and disease progress of COVID-19 is overexpression of serum amyloid A (SAA) to levels that in other diseases are associated with a risk for SAA amyloidosis. To understand whether SAA amyloidosis could also be a long-term risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections, we have used long all-atom molecular dynamic simulations to study the effect of a SARS-CoV-2 protein segment on SAA amyloid formation. Sampling over 40 μs, we find that the presence of the nine-residue segment SK9, located at the C-terminus of the envelope protein, increases the propensity for SAA fibril formation by three mechanisms: it reduces the stability of the lipid-transporting hexamer shifting the equilibrium toward monomers, it increases the frequency of aggregation-prone configurations in the resulting chains, and it raises the stability of SAA fibrils. Our results therefore suggest that SAA amyloidosis and related pathologies may be a long-term risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloidosis*
  • COVID-19*
  • Humans
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Serum Amyloid A Protein

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Serum Amyloid A Protein