A group from Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan, etc. has reported about glycan binding specificities of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8880561/
Assay:
Donor beads (500 ng/well) and biotin-polyacrylamide (PAA)-sugars (20 ng/well) mixed with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 or S2 subunits (10–20 ng/well) were incubated at room temperature for 1 h. A mixture of acceptor beads (500 ng/well) and rabbit antisheep IgG Fc antibodies (10 ng/well) was added to the reaction to reach a final volume of 25 μL. All reactions were performed in the dark. After incubation for 2 h, the binding signals were measured and analyzed using the AlphaScreenTM detection program.
Results:
It was found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 subunit binds specifically to blood group A antigen (strongly) and B antigen (weakly), and that the spike protein S2 subunit has a binding preference for Lewisa antigen. However, in the eyes of blog admin, it does not mean that SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins have no affinity for glycan structures other than these ones, and the specificity is not so remarkable, especially in S2 subunit.
