<span>Interdisciplinary collection of scholarship on COVID-19 from </span><span>faculty, staff, students, and researchers of Case Western Reserve University.</span>
Many human viral diseases are a consequence of a zoonotic event. Some of the diseases caused by these zoono- tic events have affected millions of peop Show moreMany human viral diseases are a consequence of a zoonotic event. Some of the diseases caused by these zoono- tic events have affected millions of people around the world, some of which have resulted in high rates of mor- bidity/mortality in humans. Changes in the viral proteins that function as ligands of the host receptor may pro- mote the spillover between species. The most recent of these zoonotic events that have caused an ongoing epi- demic of high magnitude is the Covid-19 epidemics caused by SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to de- termine the mutation(s) in the sequence of the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 that might be favoring human to human transmission. An in silico approach was performed, and changes were detected in the S1 subunit of the receptor-binding domain of spike. The observed changes have significant effect on SARS-CoV-2 spike/ACE2 interaction and produce a reduction in the binding energy, compared to the one of the Bat-CoV to this receptor. The data presented in this study suggest a higher affinity of the SARS-Cov-2 spike protein to the human ACE2 receptor, compared to the one of Bat-CoV spike and ACE2. This could be the cause of the rapid viral spread of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Show less