Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Design: Fusion of Spike Glycoprotein Transmembrane Domain to Receptor-Binding Domain Induces Trimerization
Taha Azad, Ragunath Singaravelu, Mathieu J. F. Crupi, Taylor R. Jamieson, Jaahnavi Dave, Emily E. F. Brown, Reza Rezaei, Zaid Taha, Stephen Boulton, Nikolas T. Martin, Abera Surendran, Joanna Poutou, Mina Ghahremani, Kazem Nouri, Jack T. Whelan, Jessie Duong, Sarah Tucker, Jean‐Simon Diallo, John C. Bell, Carolina S. Ilkow
Abstract
The ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic presents an urgent need for an effective vaccine. Molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 is critical to the development of effective vaccine and therapeutic strategies. In the present study, we show that the fusion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain to its transmembrane domain is sufficient to mediate trimerization. Our findings may have implications for vaccine development and therapeutic drug design strategies targeting spike trimerization. As global efforts for developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are rapidly underway, we believe this observation is an important consideration for identifying crucial epitopes of SARS-CoV-2.