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Guo Y, He W, Mou H, Zhang L, Chang J, Peng S, Ojha A, Tavora R, Parcells MS, Luo G, Li W, Zhong G, Choe H, Farzan M, Quinlan BD. An Engineered Receptor-Binding Domain Improves the Immunogenicity of Multivalent SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines. mBio 2021; 12:mBio.00930-21. [PMID: 33975938 DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.10.036418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein mediates viral entry into cells expressing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S protein engages ACE2 through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), an independently folded 197-amino-acid fragment of the 1,273-amino-acid S-protein protomer. The RBD is the primary SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing epitope and a critical target of any SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here, we show that this RBD conjugated to each of two carrier proteins elicited more potent neutralizing responses in immunized rodents than did a similarly conjugated proline-stabilized S-protein ectodomain. Nonetheless, the native RBD is expressed inefficiently, limiting its usefulness as a vaccine antigen. However, we show that an RBD engineered with four novel glycosylation sites (gRBD) is expressed markedly more efficiently and generates a more potent neutralizing responses as a DNA vaccine antigen than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein, especially when fused to multivalent carriers, such as a Helicobacter pylori ferritin 24-mer. Further, gRBD is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD when administered as a subunit protein vaccine. Our data suggest that multivalent gRBD antigens can reduce costs and doses, and improve the immunogenicity, of all major classes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.IMPORTANCE All available vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) express or deliver the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. We show that this antigen is not optimal, consistent with observations that the vast majority of the neutralizing response to the virus is focused on the S-protein receptor-binding domain (RBD). However, this RBD is not expressed well as an independent domain, especially when expressed as a fusion protein with a multivalent scaffold. We therefore engineered a more highly expressed form of the SARS-CoV-2 RBD by introducing four glycosylation sites into a face of the RBD normally occluded in the full S protein. We show that this engineered protein, gRBD, is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein in both genetic and protein-delivered vaccines.
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MESH Headings
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/genetics
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/immunology
- Animals
- Binding Sites
- COVID-19 Vaccines/chemistry
- COVID-19 Vaccines/immunology
- Female
- Genetic Engineering
- Glycosylation
- HEK293 Cells
- Humans
- Immunogenicity, Vaccine
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred BALB C
- Models, Molecular
- Protein Domains
- Rats
- Rats, Sprague-Dawley
- Receptors, Coronavirus/genetics
- Receptors, Coronavirus/immunology
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology
- Vaccines, Conjugate/genetics
- Vaccines, Conjugate/immunology
- Vaccines, Synthetic/chemistry
- Vaccines, Synthetic/immunology
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Guo
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Wenhui He
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Huihui Mou
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Lizhou Zhang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Jing Chang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Shoujiao Peng
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Amrita Ojha
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Rubens Tavora
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Mark S Parcells
- Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
| | - Guangxiang Luo
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Wenhui Li
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guocai Zhong
- Scripps Research SZBL Chemical Biology Institute, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hyeryun Choe
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Michael Farzan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Brian D Quinlan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
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Quinlan BD, He W, Mou H, Zhang L, Guo Y, Chang J, Peng S, Ojha A, Tavora R, Parcells MS, Luo G, Li W, Zhong G, Choe H, Farzan M. An engineered receptor-binding domain improves the immunogenicity of multivalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. bioRxiv 2020:2020.11.18.388934. [PMID: 33236008 PMCID: PMC7685318 DOI: 10.1101/2020.11.18.388934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023]
Abstract
The SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein mediates viral entry into cells expressing the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S protein engages ACE2 through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), an independently folded 197-amino acid fragment of the 1273-amino acid S-protein protomer. The RBD is the primary SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing epitope and a critical target of any SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here we show that this RBD conjugated to each of two carrier proteins elicited more potent neutralizing responses in immunized rodents than did a similarly conjugated proline-stabilized S-protein ectodomain. Nonetheless, the native RBD expresses inefficiently, limiting its usefulness as a vaccine antigen. However, we show that an RBD engineered with four novel glycosylation sites (gRBD) expresses markedly more efficiently, and generates a more potent neutralizing responses as a DNA vaccine antigen, than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein, especially when fused to multivalent carriers such as an H. pylori ferritin 24-mer. Further, gRBD is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD when administered as a subunit protein vaccine. Our data suggest that multivalent gRBD antigens can reduce costs and doses, and improve the immunogenicity, of all major classes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian D. Quinlan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Wenhui He
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Huihui Mou
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Lizhou Zhang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Yan Guo
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Jing Chang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Shoujiao Peng
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Amrita Ojha
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Rubens Tavora
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Mark S. Parcells
- Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Guangxiang Luo
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School Of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
| | - Wenhui Li
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guocai Zhong
- Scripps Research | SZBL Chemical Biology Institute, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory (SZBL), Shenzhen, China
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hyeryun Choe
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Michael Farzan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
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Giles AC, Desbois M, Opperman KJ, Tavora R, Maroni MJ, Grill B. A complex containing the O-GlcNAc transferase OGT-1 and the ubiquitin ligase EEL-1 regulates GABA neuron function. J Biol Chem 2019; 294:6843-6856. [PMID: 30858176 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.007406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2019] [Revised: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Inhibitory GABAergic transmission is required for proper circuit function in the nervous system. However, our understanding of molecular mechanisms that preferentially influence GABAergic transmission, particularly presynaptic mechanisms, remains limited. We previously reported that the ubiquitin ligase EEL-1 preferentially regulates GABAergic presynaptic transmission. To further explore how EEL-1 functions, here we performed affinity purification proteomics using Caenorhabditis elegans and identified the O-GlcNAc transferase OGT-1 as an EEL-1 binding protein. This observation was intriguing, as we know little about how OGT-1 affects neuron function. Using C. elegans biochemistry, we confirmed that the OGT-1/EEL-1 complex forms in neurons in vivo and showed that the human orthologs, OGT and HUWE1, also bind in cell culture. We observed that, like EEL-1, OGT-1 is expressed in GABAergic motor neurons, localizes to GABAergic presynaptic terminals, and functions cell-autonomously to regulate GABA neuron function. Results with catalytically inactive point mutants indicated that OGT-1 glycosyltransferase activity is dispensable for GABA neuron function. Consistent with OGT-1 and EEL-1 forming a complex, genetic results using automated, behavioral pharmacology assays showed that ogt-1 and eel-1 act in parallel to regulate GABA neuron function. These findings demonstrate that OGT-1 and EEL-1 form a conserved signaling complex and function together to affect GABA neuron function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew C Giles
- From the Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458 and
| | - Muriel Desbois
- From the Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458 and
| | - Karla J Opperman
- From the Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458 and
| | - Rubens Tavora
- the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida 33458
| | - Marissa J Maroni
- From the Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458 and
| | - Brock Grill
- From the Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Florida, Jupiter, Florida 33458 and
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