Production and secretion of functional SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

ABSTRACT: The spike protein is the major protein on the surface of coronaviruses. It is therefore the prominent target of neutralizing antibodies and consequently the antigen of all currently admitted vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Since it is a 1,273-amino acids glycoprotein with 22 N-linked glycans, the production of functional, full-length spike protein was limited to higher eukaryotes. Here we report the production of full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein - lacking the C-terminal membrane anchor - as a secreted protein in the prefusion-stabilized conformation in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We show that the spike protein is efficiently cleaved at the furin cleavage site during synthesis in the alga and that cleavage is abolished upon mutation of the multi-basic cleav

SUBMITTER: Kiefer AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9530321 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature