Visualizing the initial steps of blood clotting by SARS-Cov2 Spike protein

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25250/thescbr.brk753

Keywords:

SARS-Cov2, Spike protein, platelet, cryo-ET, coagulation

Abstract

The SARS-Cov-2 Spike protein has been attributed to many peculiar symptoms of COVID-19, like blood clotting and tissue damage. Using the cutting-edge cryo-electron tomographic technique, we directly observed SARS-Cov2 Spike proteins acting on the platelet surface. Our finding explains why SARS-Cov-2 can significantly jeopardize blood clotting compared to other coronaviruses.

Author Biographies

Naoko Mizuno, National Institutes of Health

Senior Investigator

Christian Biertuempel, National Institutes of Health

Staff Scientist

Original article reference

Kuhn, C. C., Basnet, N., Bodakuntla, S., Alvarez-Brecht, P., Nichols, S., Martinez-Sanchez, A., Agostini, L., Soh, Y.-M., Takagi, J., Biertümpfel, C., & Mizuno, N. (2023). Direct Cryo-ET observation of platelet deformation induced by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Nature Communications, 14(1), 620. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36279-5

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Published

2023-10-06

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 4 (2023): TheScienceBreaker

Section

Health & Physiology

License

Some rights reserved 2023 Naoko Mizuno, Christian Biertuempel

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.