SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses pose major threats to global health, yet computational efforts to understand them have largely overlooked the process of budding, a key part of the coronavirus life cycle. When expressed together, coronavirus M and E proteins are sufficient to facilitate budding into the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). To help elucidate budding, we ran atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the Feig laboratory’s refined structural models of the SARS-CoV-2 M protein dimer and E protein pentamer. Our MD simulations consisted of M protein dimers and E protein pentamers in patches of membrane. By examining where these proteins induced membrane curvature in silico , we obtained insights around how the budding process may occur. Multiple M protein dimers acted together to induce global membrane curvature through protein–lipid interactions while E protein pentamers kept the membrane planar. These results could eventually help guide development of antiviral therapeutics that inhibit coronavirus budding.

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SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses pose a major threat to global health, yet treatment efforts have largely ignored the process of envelope assembly, a key part of the coronaviral life cycle. When expressed together, the M and E proteins are sufficient to facilitate coronavirus envelope assembly. Envelope assembly leads to budding of coronavirus particles into the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and subsequent maturation of the virus, yet the mechanisms behind the budding process remain poorly understood. Better understanding of budding may enable new types of antiviral therapies. To this end, we ran atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of SARS-CoV-2 envelope assembly using the Feig laboratory's refined structural models of the M protein dimer and E protein pentamer. Our MD simulations consisted of M protein dimers and E protein pentamers in patches of virtual ERGIC membrane. By examining how these proteins induce membrane curvature in silico, we have obtained insights around how the budding process may occur. In our simulations, M protein dimers acted cooperatively to induce membrane curvature. By contrast, E protein pentamers kept the membrane planar. These results could help guide the development of novel antiviral therapeutics which inhibit coronavirus budding.

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