Background: Antibody tests are essential tools to investigate humoral immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination. While first-generation antibody tests have primarily provided qualitative results, accurate seroprevalence studies and tracking of antibody levels over time require highly specific, sensitive and quantitative test setups. Methods: We have developed two quantitative, easy-to-implement SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests, based on the spike receptor binding domain and the nucleocapsid protein. Comprehensive evaluation of antigens from several biotechnological platforms enabled the identification of superior antigen designs for reliable serodiagnostic. Cut-off modelling based on unprecedented large and heterogeneous multicentric validation cohorts allowed us to define optimal thresholds for the tests' broad applications in different aspects of clinical use, such as seroprevalence studies and convalescent plasma donor qualification. Findings: Both developed serotests individually performed similarly-well as fully-automated CE-marked test systems. Our described sensitivity-improved orthogonal test approach assures highest specificity (99.8%); thereby enabling robust serodiagnosis in low-prevalence settings with simple test formats. The inclusion of a calibrator permits accurate quantitative monitoring of antibody concentrations in samples collected at different time points during the acute and convalescent phase of COVID-19 and disclosed antibody level thresholds that correlate well with robust neutralization of authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus. Interpretation: We demonstrate that antigen source and purity strongly impact serotest performance. Comprehensive biotechnology-assisted selection of antigens and in-depth characterisation of the assays allowed us to overcome limitations of simple ELISA-based antibody test formats based on chromometric reporters, to yield comparable assay performance as fully-automated platforms.

The nucleocapsid protein (NP) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical for several steps of the viral life cycle, and is abundantly expressed during infection, making it an ideal diagnostic target protein. This protein has a strong tendency for dimerization and interaction with nucleic acids. For the first time, high titers of NP were expressed in E. coli with a CASPON tag, using a growth-decoupled protein expression system . Purification was accomplished by nuclease treatment of the cell homogenate and a sequence of downstream processing (DSP) steps. An analytical method consisting of native hydrophobic interaction chromatography hyphenated to multi-angle light scattering detection (HIC-MALS) was established for in-process control, in particular, to monitor product fragmentation and multimerization throughout the purification process. 730 mg purified NP per liter of fermentation could be produced by the optimized process, corresponding to a yield of 77% after cell lysis. The HIC-MALS method was used to demonstrate that the NP product can be produced with a purity of 95%. The molecular mass of the main NP fraction is consistent with dimerized protein as was verified by a complementary native size-exclusion separation (SEC)-MALS analysis. Peptide mapping mass spectrometry and host cell specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay confirmed the high product purity, and the presence of a minor endogenous chaperone explained the residual impurities. The optimized HIC-MALS method enables monitoring of the product purity, and simultaneously access its molecular mass, providing orthogonal information complementary to established SEC-MALS methods. Enhanced resolving power can be achieved over SEC, attributed to the extended variables to tune selectivity in HIC mode.

The production of recombinant proteins usually reduces cell fitness and the growth rate of producing cells. The growth disadvantage favors faster‐growing non‐producer mutants. Therefore, continuous bioprocessing is hardly feasible in Escherichia coli due to the high escape rate. The stability of E. coli expression systems under long‐term production conditions and how metabolic load triggered by recombinant gene expression influences the characteristics of mutations are investigated. Iterated fed‐batch‐like microbioreactor cultivations are conducted under production conditions. The easy‐to‐produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a challenging antigen‐binding fragment (Fab) are used as model proteins, and BL21(DE3) and BL21Q strains as expression hosts. In comparative whole‐genome sequencing analyses, mutations that allowed cells to grow unhindered despite recombinant protein production are identified. A T7 RNA polymerase expression system is only conditionally suitable for long‐term cultivation under production conditions. Mutations leading to non‐producers occur in either the T7 RNA polymerase gene or the T7 promoter. The host RNA polymerase‐based BL21Q expression system remains stable in the production of GFP in long‐term cultivations. For the production of Fab, mutations in lacI of the BL21Q derivatives have positive effects on long‐term stability. The results indicate that adaptive evolution carried out with genome‐integrated E. coli expression systems in microtiter cultivations under industrial‐relevant production conditions is an efficient strain development tool for production hosts.

Fusion protein technologies to facilitate soluble expression, detection, or subsequent affinity purification in Escherichia coli are widely used but may also be associated with negative consequences. Although commonly employed solubility tags have a positive influence on titers, their large molecular mass inherently results in stochiometric losses of product yield. Furthermore, the introduction of affinity tags, especially the polyhistidine tag, has been associated with undesirable changes in expression levels. Fusion tags are also known to influence the functionality of the protein of interest due to conformational changes. Therefore, particularly for biopharmaceutical applications, the removal of the fusion tag is a requirement to ensure the safety and efficacy of the therapeutic protein. The design of suitable fusion tags enabling the efficient manufacturing of the recombinant protein remains a challenge. Here, we evaluated several N-terminal fusion tag combinations and their influence on product titer and cell growth to find an ideal design for a generic fusion tag. For enhancing soluble expression, a negatively charged peptide tag derived from the T7 bacteriophage was combined with affinity tags and a caspase-2 cleavage site applicable for CASPase-based fusiON (CASPON) platform technology. The effects of each combinatorial tag element were investigated in an integrated manner using human fibroblast growth factor 2 as a model protein in fed-batch lab-scale bioreactor cultivations. To confirm the generic applicability for manufacturing, seven additional pharmaceutically relevant proteins were produced using the best performing tag of this study, named CASPON-tag, and tag removal was demonstrated.

<p>The nucleocapsid protein (NP) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical for several steps of the viral life cycle, and is abundantly expressed during infection, making it an ideal diagnostic target protein. <a>This protein has a strong tendency to dimerization and interaction with nucleic acids. A native hydrophobic interaction chromatography hyphenated to multi-angle light scattering detection (HIC-MALS) method was established for in-process control, in particular, to monitor product fragmentation and multimerization throughout the purification process. High titers of the nucleocapsid protein were expressed in <i>E. coli</i> with a CASPON tag, using a growth-decoupled protein expression system<i>. </i>Purification was accomplished by nuclease treatment of the cell homogenate and a sequence of chromatographic steps</a>. 730 mg purified NP per liter of fermentation could be produced by the optimized process, corresponding to a yield of 77%. The HIC-MALS method was used to demonstrate that the NP product can be produced with a purity of 95%. The molecular mass of the main NP fraction is consistent with dimerized protein as was verified by a complementary native size-exclusion separation (SEC)-MALS analysis. Peptide mapping mass spectrometry and host cell specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay confirmed the high product purity, and the presence of a minor endogenous chaperone explained the residual impurities. The HIC-MALS method enables to monitor the purity of the product and simultaneously access its molecular mass.</p>

The production of recombinant proteins usually reduces cell fitness and the growth rate of producing cells. The growth disadvantage favors faster-growing non-producer mutants. Therefore, continuous bioprocessing is hardly feasible in Escherichia coli due to the high escape rate. We investigated the stability of E. coli expression systems under long-term production conditions and how metabolic load triggered by recombinant gene expression influences the characteristics of mutations. We conducted iterated fed-batch-like microbioreactor cultivations under production conditions. We used the easy-to-produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a challenging antigen-binding fragment (Fab) as model proteins, and BL21(DE3) and BL21 Q strains as expression hosts. In comparative whole genome sequencing analyses, we identified mutations that allowed cells to grow unhindered despite recombinant protein production. A T7 RNA polymerase expression system is only conditionally suitable for long-term cultivation under production conditions. Mutations leading to non-producers occur in either the T7 RNA polymerase gene or the T7 promoter. The host RNA polymerase-based BL21 Q expression system remained stable in the production of GFP in long-term cultivations. For the production of Fab, mutations in lacI of the BL21 Q derivatives had positive effects on long-term stability. Our results indicate that adaptive evolution carried out with genome-integrated E. coli expression systems in microtiter cultivations under industrial relevant production conditions is an efficient strain development tool for production hosts.

<p>The nucleocapsid protein (NP) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical for several steps of the viral life cycle, and is abundantly expressed during infection, making it an ideal diagnostic target protein. <a>This protein has a strong tendency to dimerization and interaction with nucleic acids. A native hydrophobic interaction chromatography hyphenated to multi-angle light scattering detection (HIC-MALS) method was established for in-process control, in particular, to monitor product fragmentation and multimerization throughout the purification process. High titers of the nucleocapsid protein were expressed in <i>E. coli</i> with a CASPON tag, using a growth-decoupled protein expression system<i>. </i>Purification was accomplished by nuclease treatment of the cell homogenate and a sequence of chromatographic steps</a>. 730 mg purified NP per liter of fermentation could be produced by the optimized process, corresponding to a yield of 77%. The HIC-MALS method was used to demonstrate that the NP product can be produced with a purity of 95%. The molecular mass of the main NP fraction is consistent with dimerized protein as was verified by a complementary native size-exclusion separation (SEC)-MALS analysis. Peptide mapping mass spectrometry and host cell specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay confirmed the high product purity, and the presence of a minor endogenous chaperone explained the residual impurities. The HIC-MALS method enables to monitor the purity of the product and simultaneously access its molecular mass.</p>

relevant operating conditions -feed solution pH and salt concentration -on the selectivity of the nanomembranes was investigated. The selectivity was only mildly impacted by changes in the feed characteristics, thereby highlighting the robustness of the membrane performance.