{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T09:18:22Z","timestamp":1787563102468,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,30]],"date-time":"2020-04-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1588204800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003977","name":"Israel Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["1466\/18"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1466\/18"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003977","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 disease has plagued over 200 countries with over three million cases and has resulted in over 200,000 deaths within 3 months. To gain insight into the high infection rate of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, we compare the interaction between the human ACE2 receptor and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with that of other pathogenic coronaviruses using molecular dynamics simulations. SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and HCoV-NL63 recognize ACE2 as the natural receptor but present a distinct binding interface to ACE2 and a different network of residue\u2013residue contacts. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have comparable binding affinities achieved by balancing energetics and dynamics. The SARS-CoV-2\u2013ACE2 complex contains a higher number of contacts, a larger interface area, and decreased interface residue fluctuations relative to the SARS-CoV\u2013ACE2 complex. These findings expose an exceptional evolutionary exploration exerted by coronaviruses toward host recognition. We postulate that the versatility of cell receptor binding strategies has immediate implications for therapeutic strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v12050497","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,30]],"date-time":"2020-04-30T03:18:19Z","timestamp":1588216699000},"page":"497","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":111,"title":["The SARS-CoV-2 Exerts a Distinctive Strategy for Interacting with the ACE2 Human Receptor"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Esther S.","family":"Brielle","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel"},{"name":"The Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0480-0438","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dina","family":"Schneidman-Duhovny","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel"},{"name":"The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9357-4526","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michal","family":"Linial","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1394","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1085952","article-title":"Characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome","volume":"300","author":"Rota","year":"2003","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gralinski, L.E., and Menachery, V.D. 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