Synthetic virions reveal fatty acid-coupled adaptive immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein

Oskar Staufer; Kapil Gupta; Jochen Estebano Hernandez Bücher; Fabian Kohler; Christian Sigl; Gunjita Singh; Kate Vasileiou; Ana Yagüe Relimpio; Meline Macher; Sebastian Fabritz; Hendrik Dietz; Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti Adam; Christiane Schaffitzel; Alessia Ruggieri; Ilia Platzman; Imre Berger; Joachim P. Spatz

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28446-x

Nature Communications (Feb 2022)

Synthetic virions reveal fatty acid-coupled adaptive immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein

Oskar Staufer,
Kapil Gupta,
Jochen Estebano Hernandez Bücher,
Fabian Kohler,
Christian Sigl,
Gunjita Singh,
Kate Vasileiou,
Ana Yagüe Relimpio,
Meline Macher,
Sebastian Fabritz,
Hendrik Dietz,
Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti Adam,
Christiane Schaffitzel,
Alessia Ruggieri,
Ilia Platzman,
Imre Berger,
Joachim P. Spatz

Affiliations

Oskar Staufer: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Kapil Gupta: School of Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol
Jochen Estebano Hernandez Bücher: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Fabian Kohler: Department of Physics, Technical University of Munich
Christian Sigl: Department of Physics, Technical University of Munich
Gunjita Singh: School of Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol
Kate Vasileiou: School of Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol
Ana Yagüe Relimpio: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Meline Macher: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Sebastian Fabritz: Department for Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Hendrik Dietz: Max Planck School Matter to Life
Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti Adam: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Christiane Schaffitzel: School of Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol
Alessia Ruggieri: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, Center for Integrated Infectious Disease Research, University of Heidelberg
Ilia Platzman: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
Imre Berger: Max Planck-Bristol Center for Minimal Biology, University of Bristol
Joachim P. Spatz: Department for Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28446-x
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Staufer et al. provide a protocol for preparation of synthetic minimal virions (MiniV) of SARS-CoV-2, mimicking viral structure and allowing for precise investigation of receptor binding mechanism. They find that the highly conserved free fatty acid binding pocket (FABP) can function as an allosteric regulator, enabling adaptation of immunogenicity via binding of proinflammatory free fatty acids and mediating the spike open to-closed equilibrium.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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