PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Pitino, Marco
AU  - Fleites, Laura A.
AU  - Shrum, Lauren
AU  - Heck, Michelle
AU  - Shatters, Robert G.
TI  - Plant production of high affinity nanobodies that block SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding with its receptor, human angiotensin converting enzyme
AID  - 10.1101/2022.09.03.506425
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.09.03.506425
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/03/2022.09.03.506425.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/03/2022.09.03.506425.full
AB  - Nanobodies® (VHH antibodies), are small peptides that represent the antigen binding domain, VHH of unique single domain antibodies (heavy chain only antibodies, HcAb) derived from camelids. Here, we demonstrate production of VHH 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.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.