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Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Published on: January 12, 2024
Contribution of single mutations to selected SARS-CoV-2 emerging variants spike antigenicity
Shang Yu Gong1, Debashree Chatterjee2, Jonathan Richard3
1Centre de Recherche du CHUM, QC, H2X 0A9, Canada; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0G4, Canada.
Abstract:
Towards the end of 2020, multiple variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) have arisen from the original SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-Hu-1 strain. Mutations in the Spike protein are highly scrutinized for their impact on transmissibility, pathogenesis and vaccine efficacy. Here, we contribute to the growing body of literature on emerging variants by evaluating the impact of single mutations on the overall antigenicity of selected variants and their binding to the ACE2 receptor. We observe a differential contribution of single mutants to the global variants phenotype related to ACE2 interaction and antigenicity. Using biolayer interferometry, we observe that enhanced ACE2 interaction is mostly modulated by a decrease in off-rate. Finally, we made the interesting observation that the Spikes from tested emerging variants bind better to ACE2 at 37°C compared to the D614G variant. Whether improved ACE2 binding at higher temperature facilitates emerging variants transmission remain to be demonstrated.
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