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. 2021 Jan 12;371(6530):eabe6230. doi: 10.1126/science.abe6230

Bivalent nanobodies neutralize by inducing postfusion conformation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike.

Bivalent nanobodies neutralize by inducing postfusion conformation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike.

On virions, SARS-CoV-2 spike trimers are mostly in an inactive configuration with all RBDs in the down conformation (left). Binding of bivalent nanobody VE stabilizes the spike in an active conformation with all RBDs up (middle), triggering premature induction of the postfusion conformation, which irreversibly inactivates the spike protein (right).