PreprintCited by 458SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Researchvaccines and immunoinformatics approachesSARS-CoV-2 detection and testing

SARS-CoV-2 RBD in vitro evolution follows contagious mutation spread, yet generates an able infection inhibitor

Open access
Zahradník, Jiří, Marciano, Shir, Shemesh, Maya, Zoler, Eyal, Chiaravalli, Jeanne, Meyer, Björn, Rudich, Yinon, Dym, Orly +2 more·2021·Nature Microbiology

Preprint — published as 10.1038/s41564-021-00954-4

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is continually evolving, with more contagious mutations spreading rapidly. Using in vitro evolution to affinity maturate the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein towards ACE2 resulted in the more contagious mutations, S477N, E484K, and N501Y, to be among the first selected, explaining the convergent evolution of the “European” (20E-EU1), “British” (501.V1),”South African” (501.V2), and ‘‘Brazilian” variants (501.V3). Plotting the binding affinity to ACE2 of all RBD mutations against their incidence in the population shows a strong correlation between the two. Further in vitro evolution enhancing binding by 600-fold provides guidelines towards potentially new evolving mutations with even higher infectivity. For example, Q498R epistatic to N501Y. Nevertheless, the high-affinity RBD is also an efficient drug, inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection. The 2.9Å Cryo-EM structure of the high-affinity complex, including all rapidly spreading mutations, provides a structural basis for future drug and vaccine development and for in silico evaluation of known antibodies.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1101/2021.01.06.425392

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The RBD mutation N501Y increases affinity to ACE2 and is present in B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, but does not impair post-vaccine serum neutralization on its own.

    “The RBD mutation N501Y, which increases affinity to ACE2 and is present in B.1.1.7 and B.1.351(ref.20 ), does not impair on its own post-vaccine serum neutralization 21 .”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zahradník, J., Marciano, S., Shemesh, M., Zoler, E., Chiaravalli, J., Meyer, B., Rudich, Y., Dym, O., Elad, N., & Schreiber, G.
Affiliations
  • Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
  • Institut Pasteur (FR)
Corresponding author
Schreiber, Gideon
Venue
Nature Microbiology
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2021-01-06
Volume
6
Issue
9
Pages
1188-1198
ISSN
2058-5276 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3193682077
Cited by
458
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 177 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
32.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Microbiology (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
  • Weizmann Institute of Science
  • Israel Science Foundation (3814/19)
  • Nature
  • National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, spike protein receptor-binding domain, ACE2 binding affinity, in vitro evolution, affinity maturation, SARS-CoV-2 variants, E484K, N501Y, antiviral drug design, hamster challenge model, COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine development
MeSH terms
Protein Domains, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, Animals, Antiviral Agents, Female, Cricetinae, Humans, Male, Mesocricetus, Mutation, Protein Binding, Receptors, Virus, Drug Design, Evolution, Molecular, Virus Internalization, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review