Characterizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies

Abstract

ntibody therapeutics will be a key part of the fight against COVID-19, but some do a better job of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 than others These antibodies stop infection by blocking the virus from entering cells Researchers have now used structural biology techniques and binding assays to show four basic modes by which different neutralizing antibodies bind to the novel coronavirus’s spike protein ( Nature 2020, DOI: 10 1038/s41586-020-2852-1 ) These antibodies specifically target the protein’s receptor-binding domain, or RBD “There was evidence of multiple binding modes, or targets, on the RBD surface,” explains Christopher O Barnes, a postdoc in Pamela Bjorkman’s biology lab at the California Institute of Technology To explore these domains, Barnes used cryo-electron microscopy to visualize spike-protein-bound neutralizing antibodies isolated from people with COVID-19 He could see not just where antibodies might bind to one RBD but also how the antibodies might bind to the full spike and how [ ]