Cryo-EM structures of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 spike

Abstract

The BA.2 sub-lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has gained in proportion relative to BA.1. As differences in spike (S) proteins may underlie differences in their pathobiology, here we determine cryo-EM structures of a BA.2 S ectodomain and compare these to previously determined BA.1 S structures. BA.2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) mutations induced remodeling of the internal RBD structure resulting in its improved thermostability and tighter packing within the 3-RBD-down spike. In the S2 subunit, the fusion peptide in BA.2 was less accessible to antibodies than in BA.1. Pseudovirus neutralization and spike binding assays revealed extensive immune evasion while defining epitopes of two RBD-directed antibodies, DH1044 and DH1193, that bound the outer RBD face to neutralize both BA.1 and BA.2. Taken together, our results indicate that stabilization of the 3-RBD-down state through interprotomer RBD-RBD packing is a hallmark of the Omicron variant, and reveal differences in key functional regions in the BA.1 and BA.2 S proteins.