The Delta Variant Mutations in the Receptor Binding Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Show Enhanced Electrostatic Interactions with the ACE2

Mutations in the receptor binding domain (RBD) in SARS-CoV-2 are shown to enhance its replication, transmissibility, and binding to host cells. Recently, a new strain is reported in India that includes a mutation (T478K, and L452R) in the RBD, that is possibly increasing the infection rate. Here, using Molecular Mechanics (MM) and Monte Carlo (MC) sampling, we show that the double mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 induced conformational change in ACE2-E37, which enhanced the electrostatic interactions by the formation of a salt-bridge with SARS-CoV-2-R403. In addition, we observed that the double mutated structure induced a significant change in the salt-bridge electrostatic interaction between RBD-T500 and ACE2-D355. Where that this interaction lost more than 70% of its value compared to its value in WT protein.