Impact of glycosylation on a broad-spectrum vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

A major challenge to end the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is to develop a broadly protective vaccine. As the key immunogen, the spike protein is frequently mutated with conserved epitopes shielded by glycans. Here, we reveal that spike glycosylation has site-differential effects on viral infectivity and lung epithelial cells generate spike with more infective glycoforms. Compared to the fully glycosylated spike, immunization of spike protein with N-glycans trimmed to the monoglycosylated state (S mg ) elicits stronger immune responses and better protection for hACE2 transgenic mice against variants of concern. In addition, a broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibody was identified from the S mg immunized mice, demonstrating that removal of glycan shields to better expose the conserved sequences is an effective and simple approach to broad-spectrum vaccine development. One-Sentence Summary Removing glycan shields to expose conserved epitopes is an effective approach to develop a broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.