<i>De Novo</i> Discovery of High-Affinity Peptide Binders for the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein
Sebastian Pomplun, Muhammad Jbara, Anthony J. Quartararo, Genwei Zhang, Joseph S. Brown, Yen‐Chun Lee, Xiyun Ye, Stephanie Hanna, Bradley L. Pentelute
Abstract
= 80-970 nM) for RBD and selectivity over human serum proteins. Nanomolar RBD concentrations in a biological matrix could be detected using the biotinylated lead peptide in ELISA format. These peptides do not compete for ACE2 binding, and their site of interaction on the SARS-CoV-2-spike-RBD might be unrelated to the ACE2 binding site, making them potential orthogonal reagents for sandwich immunoassays. These findings serve as a starting point for the development of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics or conjugates for virus-directed delivery of therapeutics.
Topics & Concepts
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Spike ProteinSpike (software development)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakComputational biologyPeptideChemistryVirologyBiologyComputer scienceBiochemistryMedicineInfectious disease (medical specialty)Software engineeringDiseasePathologyOutbreakSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchSARS-CoV-2 detection and testingvaccines and immunoinformatics approaches