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The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein contains an amino acid segment known as the fusion peptide (FP),
which is essential for the virus-cell membrane fusion. The function of FP has been reported as
calcium-dependent, but little is known about the possible binding sites and the effect of this ion on the
FP fusogenic activity. Our goal is to understand the effect of Ca 2+ ions on the structure and function of
FP and to determine its binding sites. To do so, we used native FP and analogs containing strategic
amino acid substitutions that possibly represent the Ca 2+ binding sites (E4Q, D5N, N9D, and D15N)
in combination with various spectroscopic techniques. Circular dichroism results show that Ca 2+
modulates the α-helix content of native FP and the [D5N]FP and [D15N]FP analogs in the presence
of membrane models, but not the [E4Q]FP and [N9D]FP analogs. These data suggest that the E4
and N9 residues are the possible Ca2+ binding sites. Additionally, fluorescence experiments show that
the fusogenic activity of all peptides, i.e., the ability of the peptides to promote fusion of two lipid
bilayers, decreased in the presence of Ca2+. Interestingly, the substitutions E4Q and N9D reduce the
fusogenic activity of their analogs compared to native FP, showing that the E4 and N9 residues are
important for the FP function. On the other hand, electron spin resonance data indicate that all
peptides induce the same level of lipid ordering in membranes of different lipid compositions, but the
effect of the [E4Q]FP and [N9D]FP analogs does not change with the addition of Ca 2+, while it
increases for the other peptides. Taken together, our results suggest that the E4 and N9 residues are
important both for Ca2+ binding and for FP function. However, since the fusogenic activity of FP is
reduced in the presence of Ca2+, our hypothesis is that this ion would act in the initial stage of the
membrane fusion process induced by SARS-CoV-2, increasing the effect of lipid ordering induced by
the peptide, a prerequisite for the induction of negative curvature and membrane dehydration.