Zheng-Li Shi

Oct 30, 2024 | nature.com | Matthew McCallum |Qing Xiong |Davide Corti |David Veesler |Zheng-Li Shi

AbstractAlthough coronaviruses use diverse receptors, the characterization of coronaviruses with unknown receptors has been impeded by a lack of infection models1,2. Here we introduce a strategy to engineer functional customized viral receptors (CVRs). The modular design relies on building artificial receptor scaffolds comprising various modules and generating specific virus-binding domains.

Oct 13, 2024 | nature.com | Qing Xiong |Zheng-Li Shi

AbstractOur comprehensive understanding of the multi-species ACE2 adaptiveness of sarbecoviruses remains elusive, particularly for those with various receptor binding motif (RBM) insertions/deletions (indels). Here, we analyzed RBM sequences from 268 sarbecoviruses categorized into four RBM indel types. We examined the ability of 20 representative sarbecovirus Spike glycoproteins (S) and derivatives in utilizing ACE2 from various bats and several other mammalian species.