scholarly journals Novel ACE2 protein interactions relevant to COVID-19 predicted by evolutionary rate correlations

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12159
Author(s):  
Austin A. Varela ◽  
Sammy Cheng ◽  
John H. Werren

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the cell receptor that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 binds to and uses to enter and infect human cells. COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the coronavirus, involves diverse pathologies beyond those of a respiratory disease, including micro-thrombosis (micro-clotting), cytokine storms, and inflammatory responses affecting many organ systems. Longer-term chronic illness can persist for many months, often well after the pathogen is no longer detected. A better understanding of the proteins that ACE2 interacts with can reveal information relevant to these disease manifestations and possible avenues for treatment. We have undertaken an approach to predict candidate ACE2 interacting proteins which uses evolutionary inference to identify a set of mammalian proteins that “coevolve” with ACE2. The approach, called evolutionary rate correlation (ERC), detects proteins that show highly correlated evolutionary rates during mammalian evolution. Such proteins are candidates for biological interactions with the ACE2 receptor. The approach has uncovered a number of key ACE2 protein interactions of potential relevance to COVID-19 pathologies. Some proteins have previously been reported to be associated with severe COVID-19, but are not currently known to interact with ACE2, while additional predicted novel ACE2 interactors are of potential relevance to the disease. Using reciprocal rankings of protein ERCs, we have identified strongly interconnected ACE2 associated protein networks relevant to COVID-19 pathologies. ACE2 has clear connections to coagulation pathway proteins, such as Coagulation Factor V and fibrinogen components FGA, FGB, and FGG, the latter possibly mediated through ACE2 connections to Clusterin (which clears misfolded extracellular proteins) and GPR141 (whose functions are relatively unknown). ACE2 also connects to proteins involved in cytokine signaling and immune response (e.g. XCR1, IFNAR2 and TLR8), and to Androgen Receptor (AR). The ERC prescreening approach has elucidated possible functions for relatively uncharacterized proteins and possible new functions for well-characterized ones. Suggestions are made for the validation of ERC-predicted ACE2 protein interactions. We propose that ACE2 has novel protein interactions that are disrupted during SARS-CoV-2 infection, contributing to the spectrum of COVID-19 pathologies.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Alves Varela ◽  
Sammy Cheng ◽  
John Haynes Werren

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the human cell receptor that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 binds to and uses to enter and infect human cells. COVID-19, the pandemic disease caused by the coronavirus, involves diverse pathologies beyond those of a respiratory disease, including micro-thrombosis (micro-clotting), cytokine storms, and inflammatory responses affecting many organ systems. Longer-term chronic illness can persist for many months, often well after the pathogen is no longer detected. A better understanding of the proteins that ACE2 interacts with can reveal information relevant to these disease manifestations and possible avenues for treatment. We have undertaken a different approach to predict candidate ACE2 interacting proteins which uses evolutionary inference to identify a set of mammalian proteins that "coevolve" with ACE2. The approach, called evolutionary rate correlation (ERC), detects proteins that show highly correlated evolutionary rates during mammalian evolution. Such proteins are candidates for biological interactions with the ACE2 receptor. The approach has uncovered a number of key ACE2 protein interactions of potential relevance to COVID-19 pathologies. Some proteins have previously been reported to be associated with severe COVID-19, but are not currently known to interact directly with ACE2, while additional predicted novel interactors with ACE2 are of potential relevance to the disease. Using reciprocal rankings of protein ERCs, we have identified strongly interconnected ACE2 associated protein networks relevant to COVID-19 pathologies. ACE2 has clear connections to coagulation pathway proteins, such as coagulation factor V and fibrinogen components FGG, FGB, and FGA, the latter possibly mediated through ACE2 connections to Clusterin (which clears misfolded extracellular proteins) and GPR141 (whose functions are relatively unknown). Additionally, ACE2 has connections to proteins involved in cytokine signaling and immune response (e.g. IFNAR2, XCR1, and TLR8), and to Androgen Receptor (AR). The ERC prescreening approach has also elucidated possible functions for previously uncharacterized proteins and possible additional functions for well-characterized ones. Suggested validation approaches for ERC predicted ACE2 interacting proteins are discussed. We propose that ACE2 has novel protein interactions that are disrupted during SARS-CoV-2 infection, contributing to the spectrum of COVID-19 pathologies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (08) ◽  
pp. 344-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasra Arnutti ◽  
Motofumi Hiyoshi ◽  
Wichai Prayoonwiwat ◽  
Oytip Nathalang ◽  
Chamaiporn Suwanasophon ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (05) ◽  
pp. 1041-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Donnelly ◽  
Michael E. Bromberg ◽  
Aaron Milstone ◽  
Jennifer Madison McNiff ◽  
Gordon Terwilliger ◽  
...  

SummaryWe evaluated the in vivo anti-metastatic activity of recombinant Ancylostoma caninum Anticoagulant Peptide (rAcAP), a potent (Ki = 265 pM) and specific active site inhibitor of human coagulation factor Xa originally isolated from bloodfeeding hookworms. Subcutaneous injection of SCID mice with rAcAP (0.01-0.2 mg/mouse) prior to tail vein injection of LOX human melanoma cells resulted in a dose dependent reduction in pulmonary metastases. In order to elucidate potential mechanisms of rAcAP’s anti-metastatic activity, experiments were carried out to identify specific interactions between factor Xa and LOX. Binding of biotinylated factor Xa to LOX monolayers was both specific and saturable (Kd = 15 nM). Competition experiments using antibodies to previously identified factor Xa binding proteins, including factor V/Va, effector cell protease receptor-1, and tissue factor pathway inhibitor failed to implicate any of these molecules as significant binding sites for Factor Xa. Functional prothrombinase activity was also supported by LOX, with a half maximal rate of thrombin generation detected at a factor Xa concentration of 2.4 nM. Additional competition experiments using an excess of either rAcAP or active site blocked factor Xa (EGR-Xa) revealed that most of the total factor Xa binding to LOX is mediated via interaction with the enzyme’s active site, predicting that the vast majority of cell-associated factor Xa does not participate directly in thrombin generation. In addition to establishing two distinct mechanisms of factor Xa binding to melanoma, these data raise the possibility that rAcAP’s antimetastatic effect in vivo might involve novel non-coagulant pathways, perhaps via inhibition of active-site mediated interactions between factor Xa and tumor cells.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (02) ◽  
pp. 267-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Engel ◽  
L Zwang ◽  
H H D M van Vliet ◽  
J J Michiles ◽  
J Stibbe ◽  
...  

SummaryThe currently used activated Protein C resistance test demonstrated to be of limited diagnostic value for the detection of the mutant Factor V Leiden. Moreover, this assay is not useful for patients under anticoagulant therapy. A modification of the APC resistance test, applying Factor V deficient plasma is described which demonstrates a specificity and sensitivity of 1.0. The superiority of the modified APC resistance test over the existing APC resistance test was verified by genotyping.For that purpose, the Amplification Refractory Mutation System (ARMS) was applied to the detection of the G to A mutation at position 1691 in the gene encoding coagulation Factor V. The mutation at that position could be easily detected by using each of two allele-specific oligonucleotide primers concomitantly with one common primer in two separate polymerase chain reactions, thereby amplifying a fragment of 186 base-pairs of the Factor V gene.


1965 ◽  
Vol 14 (03/04) ◽  
pp. 431-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R Cole ◽  
J. L Koppel ◽  
J. H Olwin

SummarySince Ac-globulin (factor V) is involved in the formation of prothrombin activator, its ability to complex with phospholipids was studied. Purified bovine Ac-globulin was complexed to asolectin, there being presumably a fixed number of binding sites on the phospholipid micelle for Ac-globulin. In contrast to the requirement for calcium ions in the formation of complexes between asolectin and autoprothrombin C, calcium ions were not required for complex formation between asolectin and Ac-globulin to occur ; in fact, the presence of calcium prevented complex formation occurring, the degree of inhibition being dependent on the calcium concentration. By treating isolated, pre-formed aso- lectin-Ac-globulin complexes with calcium chloride solutions, Ac-globulin could be recovered in a much higher state of purity and essentially free of asolectin.Complete activators were formed by first preparing the asolectin-calcium- autoprothrombin C complex and then reacting the complex with Ac-globulin. A small amount of this product was very effective as an activator of purified prothrombin without further addition of calcium or any other cofactor. If the autoprothrombin C preparation used to prepare the complex was free of traces of prothrombin, the complete activator was stable for several hours at room temperature. Stable preparations of the complete activator were centrifuged, resulting in the sedimentation of most of the activity. Experimental evidence also indicated that activator activity was highest when autoprothrombin C and Ac-globulin were complexed to the same phospholipid micelle, rather than when the two clotting factors were complexed to separate micelles. These data suggested that the in vivo prothrombin activator may be a sedimentable complex composed of a thromboplastic enzyme, calcium, Ac-globulin and phospholipid.


1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (01) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Rosing ◽  
Guido Tans

1982 ◽  
Vol 257 (8) ◽  
pp. 4557-4563
Author(s):  
G P Tuszynski ◽  
P N Walsh ◽  
J R Piperno ◽  
A Koshy

1982 ◽  
Vol 257 (11) ◽  
pp. 6556-6564 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Suzuki ◽  
B Dahlbäck ◽  
J Stenflo

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-105
Author(s):  
Mehrez M. Jadaon ◽  
Ali A. Dashti ◽  
Hend L. Lewis

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