Fatal COVID-19 outcomes are associated with an antibody response targeting epitopes shared with endemic coronaviruses.

The role of immune responses to previously seen endemic coronavirus epitopes in severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and disease progression has not yet been determined. Here, we show that a key characteristic of fatal outcomes with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is that the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is enriched for antibodies directed against epitopes shared with endemic beta-coronaviruses and has a lower proportion of antibodies targeting the more protective variable regions of the spike. The magnitude of antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike protein, its domains and subunits, and the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid also correlated strongly with responses to the endemic beta-coronavirus spike proteins in individuals admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with fatal COVID-19 outcomes, but not in individuals with nonfatal outcomes. This correlation was found to be due to the antibody response directed at the S2 subunit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which has the highest degree of conservation between the beta-coronavirus spike proteins. Intriguingly, antibody responses to the less cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid were not significantly different in individuals who were admitted to an ICU with fatal and nonfatal outcomes, suggesting an antibody profile in individuals with fatal outcomes consistent with an "original antigenic sin" type response.

An Antigenic Thrift-Based Approach to Influenza Vaccine Design.

The antigenic drift theory states that influenza evolves via the gradual accumulation of mutations, decreasing a host's immune protection against previous strains. Influenza vaccines are designed accordingly, under the premise of antigenic drift. However, a paradox exists at the centre of influenza research. If influenza evolved primarily through mutation in multiple epitopes, multiple influenza strains should co-circulate. Such a multitude of strains would render influenza vaccines quickly inefficacious. Instead, a single or limited number of strains dominate circulation each influenza season. Unless additional constraints are placed on the evolution of influenza, antigenic drift does not adequately explain these observations. Here, we explore the constraints placed on antigenic drift and a competing theory of influenza evolution - antigenic thrift. In contrast to antigenic drift, antigenic thrift states that immune selection targets epitopes of limited variability, which constrain the variability of the virus. We explain the implications of antigenic drift and antigenic thrift and explore their current and potential uses in the context of influenza vaccine design.

A globally ubiquitous symbiont can drive experimental host evolution.

Organisms harbour myriad microbes which can be parasitic or protective against harm. The costs and benefits resulting from these symbiotic relationships can be context-dependent, but the evolutionary consequences to hosts of these transitions remain unclear. Here, we mapped the Leucobacter genus across 13,715 microbiome samples (163 studies) to reveal a global distribution as a free-living microbe or a symbiont of animals and plants. We showed that across geographically distant locations (South Africa, France, Cape Verde), Leucobacter isolates vary substantially in their virulence to an associated animal host, Caenorhabditis nematodes. We further found that multiple Leucobacter sequence variants co-occur in wild Caenorhabditis spp. which combined with natural variation in virulence provides real-world potential for Leucobacter community composition to influence host fitness. We examined this by competing C. elegans genotypes that differed in susceptibility to different Leucobacter species in an evolution experiment. One Leucobacter species was found to be host-protective against another, virulent parasitic species. We tested the impact of host genetic background and Leucobacter community composition on patterns of host-based defence evolution. We found host genotypes conferring defence against the parasitic species were maintained during infection. However, when hosts were protected during coinfection, host-based defences were nearly lost from the population. Overall, our results provide insight into the role of community context in shaping host evolution during symbioses.

The antigenic anatomy of SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain.

Antibodies are crucial to immune protection against SARS-CoV-2, with some in emergency use as therapeutics. Here, we identify 377 human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) recognizing the virus spike and focus mainly on 80 that bind the receptor binding domain (RBD). We devise a competition data-driven method to map RBD binding sites. We find that although antibody binding sites are widely dispersed, neutralizing antibody binding is focused, with nearly all highly inhibitory mAbs (IC50 < 0.1 µg/mL) blocking receptor interaction, except for one that binds a unique epitope in the N-terminal domain. Many of these neutralizing mAbs use public V-genes and are close to germline. We dissect the structural basis of recognition for this large panel of antibodies through X-ray crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy of 19 Fab-antigen structures. We find novel binding modes for some potently inhibitory antibodies and demonstrate that strongly neutralizing mAbs protect, prophylactically or therapeutically, in animal models.

Rubisco Adaptation Is More Limited by Phylogenetic Constraint Than by Catalytic Trade-off.

Rubisco assimilates CO2 to form the sugars that fuel life on earth. Correlations between rubisco kinetic traits across species have led to the proposition that rubisco adaptation is highly constrained by catalytic trade-offs. However, these analyses did not consider the phylogenetic context of the enzymes that were analyzed. Thus, it is possible that the correlations observed were an artefact of the presence of phylogenetic signal in rubisco kinetics and the phylogenetic relationship between the species that were sampled. Here, we conducted a phylogenetically resolved analysis of rubisco kinetics and show that there is a significant phylogenetic signal in rubisco kinetic traits. We re-evaluated the extent of catalytic trade-offs accounting for this phylogenetic signal and found that all were attenuated. Following phylogenetic correction, the largest catalytic trade-offs were observed between the Michaelis constant for CO2 and carboxylase turnover (∼21-37%), and between the Michaelis constants for CO2 and O2 (∼9-19%), respectively. All other catalytic trade-offs were substantially attenuated such that they were marginal (<9%) or non-significant. This phylogenetically resolved analysis of rubisco kinetic evolution also identified kinetic changes that occur concomitant with the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. Finally, we show that phylogenetic constraints have played a larger role than catalytic trade-offs in limiting the evolution of rubisco kinetics. Thus, although there is strong evidence for some catalytic trade-offs, rubisco adaptation has been more limited by phylogenetic constraint than by the combined action of all catalytic trade-offs.

Convalescent plasma therapy for the treatment of patients with COVID-19: Assessment of methods available for antibody detection and their correlation with neutralising antibody levels.

INTRODUCTION: The lack of approved specific therapeutic agents to treat coronavirus disease (COVID-19) associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has led to the rapid implementation of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) trials in many countries, including the United Kingdom. Effective CPT is likely to require high titres of neutralising antibody (nAb) in convalescent donations. Understanding the relationship between functional neutralising antibodies and antibody levels to specific SARS-CoV-2 proteins in scalable assays will be crucial for the success of a large-scale collection. We assessed whether neutralising antibody titres correlated with reactivity in a range of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) targeting the spike (S) protein, the main target for human immune response. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 52 individuals with a previous laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. These were assayed for SARS-CoV-2 nAbs by microneutralisation and pseudo-type assays and for antibodies by four different ELISAs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to further identify sensitivity and specificity of selected assays to identify samples containing high nAb levels. RESULTS: All samples contained SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, whereas neutralising antibody titres of greater than 1:20 were detected in 43 samples (83% of those tested) and >1:100 in 22 samples (42%). The best correlations were observed with EUROimmun immunoglobulin G (IgG) reactivity (Spearman Rho correlation coefficient 0.88; p < 0.001). Based on ROC analysis, EUROimmun would detect 60% of samples with titres of >1:100 with 100% specificity using a reactivity index of 9.1 (13/22). DISCUSSION: Robust associations between nAb titres and reactivity in several ELISA-based antibody tests demonstrate their possible utility for scaled-up production of convalescent plasma containing potentially therapeutic levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 nAbs.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence, titres and neutralising activity in an antenatal cohort, United Kingdom, 14 April to 15 June 2020.

SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening of 1,000 antenatal serum samples in the Oxford area, United Kingdom, between 14 April and 15 June 2020, yielded a 5.3% seroprevalence, mirroring contemporaneous regional data. Among the 53 positive samples, 39 showed in vitro neutralisation activity, correlating with IgG titre (Pearson's correlation p<0.0001). While SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in pregnancy cohorts could potentially inform population surveillance, clinical correlates of infection and immunity in pregnancy, and antenatal epidemiology evolution over time need further study.

Detection of neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to determine population exposure in Scottish blood donors between March and May 2020.

BackgroundThe progression and geographical distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere is unknown because typically only symptomatic individuals are diagnosed. We performed a serological study of blood donors in Scotland in the spring of 2020 to detect neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 as a marker of past infection and epidemic progression.AimOur objective was to determine if sera from blood bank donors can be used to track the emergence and progression of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.MethodsA pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus microneutralisation assay was used to detect neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. The study comprised samples from 3,500 blood donors collected in Scotland between 17 March and 18 May 2020. Controls were collected from 100 donors in Scotland during 2019.ResultsAll samples collected on 17 March 2020 (n = 500) were negative in the pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 virus microneutralisation assay. Neutralising antibodies were detected in six of 500 donors from 23 to 26 March. The number of samples containing neutralising antibodies did not significantly rise after 5-6 April until the end of the study on 18 May. We found that infections were concentrated in certain postcodes, indicating that outbreaks of infection were extremely localised. In contrast, other areas remained comparatively untouched by the epidemic.ConclusionAlthough blood donors are not representative of the overall population, we demonstrated that serosurveys of blood banks can serve as a useful tool for tracking the emergence and progression of an epidemic such as the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.