The ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic presents an urgent need for an effective vaccine. Molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 is critical to the development of effective vaccine and therapeutic strategies. In the present study, we show that the fusion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain to its transmembrane domain is sufficient to mediate trimerization. Our findings may have implications for vaccine development and therapeutic drug design strategies targeting spike trimerization. As global efforts for developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are rapidly underway, we believe this observation is an important consideration for identifying crucial epitopes of SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, Vaccine development, Spike protein, Receptor-binding domain, transmembrane domain, trimerization, 【초록키워드】 Vaccine, coronavirus, pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Therapeutic strategies, epitope, Critical, observation, acute respiratory syndrome, domain, implication, effective, global effort, the SARS-CoV-2, therapeutic drug, 【제목키워드】 spike, fusion,