Press Release
☷New NIST Method Can Better Identify Sneaky Sugars on Viruses Spiky Weapons
National Institute of Standards and Technology ( By Press Release office)
Sep 30,2023
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To effectively defend against an enemy invasion , it ' s helpful to have accurate intel on their weapons and attack plan . Medical scientists who are working to combat infectious viruses , like COVID - 19 and HIV , now have a better way of gathering that information thanks to research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) . A spike - shaped protein on the surface of viruses is a key weapon they use to invade cells . Vaccines and treatments often target these spike proteins , but they ' re not easy to hit because they ' re covered in different types of sugar molecules . Until now , we ' ve had to rely on educated guesses to determine the sugars on specific spots of the spike proteins . However , the NIST team has developed a new method that greatly improves our ability to accurately identify these sugar molecules . In a paper published in the Journal of Proteome Research , the team shares the types , quantities , and positions of the sugars on the spike proteins of the SARS - CoV - 2 virus , which causes COVID - 19 . While this information will be helpful in fighting COVID - 19 , the real value lies in the method itself , as it could improve our ability to fight many other viruses that affect humans . According to Stephen Stein from NIST , understanding the sugars on the spike protein is crucial for medical science to fully understand the virus . This new method provides unprecedented insight into the chemistry at the atomic level that drives a successful infection , which is important for researchers like S . Saif Hasan from the University of Maryland School of Medicine who studies how viruses invade cells . “It opens up new opportunities for us to study the quality of vaccines against different viruses . This has not been easily possible in the past . ” These various viruses are a rogues gallery of human pathogens , including COVID , HIV , influenza and Ebola . All of these particular viruses have spiny proteins that protrude outward from the surface . This makes the spike proteins even more difficult to see because different types of sugar molecules , so - called glycans , branch outward from the spikes . Scientists lacked the ability to determine a spike ' s glycosylation profile—a map that shows which specific sugars are located where on a spike . A widely used device called a mass spectrometer can provide a good general overview of all the glycans present in a sample , but until now scientists have lacked a thorough data analysis method that could turn that overview into a map with trustworthy details . The NIST team developed this analytical method over a laborious period of months , using the mass spectrometer to closely examine samples of the SARS - CoV - 2 spike protein from 11 different vendors . Team members used their collective experience in mass spectra determination and validation to develop entirely new sets of algorithms to analyze a sample , and the multiple sample sources allowed them to ensure they obtained accurate results regardless of protein origin . “This is it . ” It’s no secret to the scientific community that data analysis here is difficult , ” said Meghan Burke Harris , another author of this paper . “Many glycans look similar and are often difficult to distinguish . But the extensive measurements and data analysis here provide a reliable method for this task – one that lays the foundation for accurate measurements . ” In addition to the more comprehensive method , the team ' s work provides a library of SARS - CoV - 2 glycosylation profiles and includes visual representations of the Results . Hasan said its graphical form allowed him to look at the data intuitively and potentially solve problems that would have been unsolvable . “As a hypothetical example , let’s assume there were two batches of the same vaccine that were manufactured separately . For some unknown reason , one provides better protection than the other , ” Hasan said . “With this technique we could gain more insight into why one batch is better than another , and we could use that in the future to develop better vaccines . ” Lecture: M . C . Burke , Y . Liu , C . Remoroza , Y . A . Mirokhin , S . L . Sheetlin , D . V . Tchekhovskoi , G . Wang , X . Yang , and S . E . Stone . Determination of site - specific glycan profiles of recombinant SARS - CoV - 2 spike proteins from multiple sources . Journal of Proteome Research . August 30 , 2023 . DOI: 10 . 1021/acs . jproteome . 3c00271 Life sciences , glycomics , chemistry , mathematics and statistics , and statistical analysis Media Contact Chad Boutin charles . boutin@nist . Hey , if you want to stay in the loop with NIST , you can sign up for updates by entering your email address . The contact number is ( 301 ) 975 - 4261 . This was released on September 28 , 2023 .
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