Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population

Pandemic SARS-CoV-2 has caused unprecedented mortalities. Vaccine is in urgent need to stop the pandemic. Despite great progresses on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, the efficacy of the vaccines remains to be determined. Deciphering the interactions of the viral epitopes with the elicited neutralizi...

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Main Authors: Zhigang Yi, Yun Ling, Xiaonan Zhang, Jieliang Chen, Kongying Hu, Yuyan Wang, Wuhui Song, Tianlei Ying, Rong Zhang, HongZhou Lu, Zhenghong Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-01-01
Series:Emerging Microbes and Infections
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1815591
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author Zhigang Yi
Yun Ling
Xiaonan Zhang
Jieliang Chen
Kongying Hu
Yuyan Wang
Wuhui Song
Tianlei Ying
Rong Zhang
HongZhou Lu
Zhenghong Yuan
author_facet Zhigang Yi
Yun Ling
Xiaonan Zhang
Jieliang Chen
Kongying Hu
Yuyan Wang
Wuhui Song
Tianlei Ying
Rong Zhang
HongZhou Lu
Zhenghong Yuan
author_sort Zhigang Yi
collection DOAJ
description Pandemic SARS-CoV-2 has caused unprecedented mortalities. Vaccine is in urgent need to stop the pandemic. Despite great progresses on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, the efficacy of the vaccines remains to be determined. Deciphering the interactions of the viral epitopes with the elicited neutralizing antibodies in convalescent population inspires the vaccine development. In this study, we devised a peptide array composed of 20-mer overlapped peptides of spike (S), membrane (M) and envelope (E) proteins, and performed a screening with 120 COVID-19 convalescent sera and 24 non-COVID-19 sera. We identified five SARS-CoV-2-specific dominant epitopes that reacted with above 40% COVID-19 convalescent sera. Of note, two peptides non-specifically interacted with most of the non-COVID-19 sera. Neutralization assay indicated that only five sera completely blocked viral infection at the dilution of 1:200. By using a peptide-compete neutralizing assay, we found that three dominant epitopes partially competed the neutralization activity of several convalescent sera, suggesting antibodies elicited by these epitopes played an important role in neutralizing viral infection. The epitopes we identified in this study may serve as vaccine candidates to elicit neutralizing antibodies in most vaccinated people or specific antigens for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.
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spelling doaj-art-9b3e09d74dfb48fd913d3d9f822f709c2025-08-20T02:11:34ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEmerging Microbes and Infections2222-17512020-01-01911988199610.1080/22221751.2020.1815591Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent populationZhigang Yi0Yun Ling1Xiaonan Zhang2Jieliang Chen3Kongying Hu4Yuyan Wang5Wuhui Song6Tianlei Ying7Rong Zhang8HongZhou Lu9Zhenghong Yuan10Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaPandemic SARS-CoV-2 has caused unprecedented mortalities. Vaccine is in urgent need to stop the pandemic. Despite great progresses on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, the efficacy of the vaccines remains to be determined. Deciphering the interactions of the viral epitopes with the elicited neutralizing antibodies in convalescent population inspires the vaccine development. In this study, we devised a peptide array composed of 20-mer overlapped peptides of spike (S), membrane (M) and envelope (E) proteins, and performed a screening with 120 COVID-19 convalescent sera and 24 non-COVID-19 sera. We identified five SARS-CoV-2-specific dominant epitopes that reacted with above 40% COVID-19 convalescent sera. Of note, two peptides non-specifically interacted with most of the non-COVID-19 sera. Neutralization assay indicated that only five sera completely blocked viral infection at the dilution of 1:200. By using a peptide-compete neutralizing assay, we found that three dominant epitopes partially competed the neutralization activity of several convalescent sera, suggesting antibodies elicited by these epitopes played an important role in neutralizing viral infection. The epitopes we identified in this study may serve as vaccine candidates to elicit neutralizing antibodies in most vaccinated people or specific antigens for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1815591SARS-CoV-2COVID-19epitopeneutralizing antibodyvaccinediagnosis
spellingShingle Zhigang Yi
Yun Ling
Xiaonan Zhang
Jieliang Chen
Kongying Hu
Yuyan Wang
Wuhui Song
Tianlei Ying
Rong Zhang
HongZhou Lu
Zhenghong Yuan
Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
Emerging Microbes and Infections
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
epitope
neutralizing antibody
vaccine
diagnosis
title Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
title_full Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
title_fullStr Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
title_full_unstemmed Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
title_short Functional mapping of B-cell linear epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent population
title_sort functional mapping of b cell linear epitopes of sars cov 2 in covid 19 convalescent population
topic SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
epitope
neutralizing antibody
vaccine
diagnosis
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/22221751.2020.1815591
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