Plant production of high affinity nanobodies that block SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding with its receptor, human angiotensin converting enzyme

Abstract

Nanobodies® (V_HH antibodies), are small peptides that represent the antigen binding domain, V_HH of unique single domain antibodies (heavy chain only antibodies, HcAb) derived from camelids. Here, we demonstrate production of V_HH nanobodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in the solanaceous plant Nicotiana benthamiana through transient expression and their subsequent detection verified through western blot. We demonstrate that these nanobodies competitively inhibit binding between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain and its human receptor protein, angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). We present plant production of nanobodies as an economical and scalable alternative to rapidly respond to therapeutic needs for emerging pathogens in human medicine and agriculture.