ABSTRACT
Many studies have examined the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants on neutralizing antibody activity after they have become dominant strains. Here, we evaluate the consequences of further viral evolution. We demonstrate mechanisms through which the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) can tolerate large numbers of simultaneous antibody escape mutations and show that pseudotypes containing up to seven mutations, as opposed to the one to three found in previously studied variants of concern, are more resistant to neutralization by therapeutic antibodies and serum from vaccine recipients. We identify an antibody that binds the RBD core to neutralize pseudotypes for all tested variants but show that the RBD can acquire an N-linked glycan to escape neutralization. Our findings portend continued emergence of escape variants as SARS-CoV-2 adapts to humans.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Immune Evasion , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/chemistry , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/chemistry , Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/metabolism , BNT162 Vaccine/immunology , Betacoronavirus/immunology , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19/virology , Cross Reactions , Cryoelectron Microscopy , Crystallography, X-Ray , Epitopes , Evolution, Molecular , Humans , Models, Molecular , Mutation , Polysaccharides/analysis , Protein Binding , Protein Domains , Receptors, Coronavirus/chemistry , Receptors, Coronavirus/metabolism , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics , Viral PseudotypingABSTRACT
Many individuals mount nearly identical antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2. To gain insight into how the viral spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) might evolve in response to common antibody responses, we studied mutations occurring during virus evolution in a persistently infected immunocompromised individual. We use antibody Fab/RBD structures to predict, and pseudotypes to confirm, that mutations found in late-stage evolved S variants confer resistance to a common class of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies we isolated from a healthy COVID-19 convalescent donor. Resistance extends to the polyclonal serum immunoglobulins of four out of four healthy convalescent donors we tested and to monoclonal antibodies in clinical use. We further show that affinity maturation is unimportant for wild-type virus neutralization but is critical to neutralization breadth. Because the mutations we studied foreshadowed emerging variants that are now circulating across the globe, our results have implications to the long-term efficacy of S-directed countermeasures.