Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is a critical component of vaccines and a target for neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nAbs). Spike is also undergoing immunogenic selection with variants that increase infectivity and partially escape convalescent plasma. Here, we describe Spike Display, a high-throughput platform to rapidly characterize glycosylated spike ectodomains across multiple coronavirus-family proteins. We assayed ∼200 variant SARS-CoV-2 spikes for their expression, ACE2 binding, and recognition by 13 nAbs. An alanine scan of all five N-terminal domain (NTD) loops highlights a public epitope in the N1, N3, and N5 loops recognized by most NTD-binding nAbs. NTD mutations in variants of concern B.1.1.7 (alpha), B.1.351 (beta), B.1.1.28 (gamma), B.1.427/B.1.429 (epsilon), and B.1.617.2 (delta) impact spike expression and escape most NTD-targeting nAbs. Finally, B.1.351 and B.1.1.28 completely escape a potent ACE2 mimic. We anticipate that Spike Display will accelerate antigen design, deep scanning mutagenesis, and antibody epitope mapping for SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viral threats.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 5099-5111.e8 |
Journal | Molecular Cell |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 24 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 16 2021 |
Keywords
- COVID-19
- N-terminal domain
- cell display
- receptor-binding domain
- variants
- Protein Binding/genetics
- Cell Line
- Mammals/immunology
- SARS-CoV-2/genetics
- Humans
- COVID-19/immunology
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics
- Animals
- Antibodies, Monoclonal/immunology
- Epitopes/genetics
- HEK293 Cells
- Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology