Welcome to the International Society for Vaccines

Skip to main content

March 2020

Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation

Science. 2020 Feb 19:eabb2507. doi: 10.1126/science.abb2507. PMID: 32075877

Authors

Wrapp D, Wang N, Corbett KS, Goldsmith JA, Hsieh CL, Abiona O, Graham BS, McLellan JS Team

Abstract

The outbreak of a novel betacoronavirus (2019-nCoV) represents a pandemic threat that has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. The CoV spike (S) glycoprotein is a key target for vaccines, therapeutic antibodies, and diagnostics. To facilitate medical countermeasure (MCM) development, we determined a 3.5 Å-resolution cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV S trimer in the prefusion conformation. The predominant state of the trimer has one of the three receptor-binding domains (RBDs) rotated up in a receptor-accessible conformation. We also show biophysical and structural evidence that the 2019-nCoV S binds ACE2 with higher affinity than SARS-CoV S. Additionally, we tested several published SARS-CoV RBD-specific monoclonal antibodies and found that they do not have appreciable binding to 2019-nCoV S, suggesting antibody cross-reactivity may be limited between the two RBDs. The structure of 2019-nCoV S should enable rapid development and evaluation of MCMs to address the ongoing public health crisis.

Date