New discovery of high-affinity SARS-CoV-2 spike S2 protein binding peptide selected by PhIP-Seq

Virol Sin. 2022 Oct;37(5):758-761. doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2022.07.001. Epub 2022 Jul 5.

¹ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, South Xiang'an Road, Xiamen, 361102, China.
² Xiamen Haicang Hospital, Haiyu Road, Xiamen, 361026, China.
³ School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, South Xiang'an Road, Xiamen, 361102, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, South Xiang'an Road, Xiamen, 361102, China. Electronic address: zhangshiyin@xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, South Xiang'an Road, Xiamen, 361102, China. Electronic address: sxge@xmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

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A peptide Spep-1 targeting S2 of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was selected by PhIP-Seq.
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Spep-1 showed nanomolar affinity and high specificity to spike protein.
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S-1 based immunoassay can detect femtomolar spike antigen in spiked serum samples.
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Spep-1 can be used in future on S2 recognition, virus tracing and drug delivery.