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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.02.12.480189

The Role of Glycocalyx Steric Effects on Viral Endocytosis

Buckley, J.·Battaglia, G.
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Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms of viral entry is key to aiding the development of effective anti-viral treatments. In this work, we produce a simple thermodynamic model of viral entry, which is able to predict the differences between viruses. We also show that the glycocalyx, which is often neglected in studies of cell-entry, plays a key role, and the density and structure of the glycocalyx can determine whether or not a virus can enter the cell. We further find that co-receptors play not only a signalling role, but an important thermodynamic role in viral entry. We then show that this model can be used to calculate the cell-entry probabilities of a given virus, which can shine a light on the clinical observations associated with a virus.

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Buckley, J., Battaglia, G.. 2022-02-12. The Role of Glycocalyx Steric Effects on Viral Endocytosis. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.12.480189

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