A Bioluminescent Biosensor for Quantifying the Interaction of SARS-CoV-2 and Its Receptor ACE2 in Cells and In Vitro

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a very well designed study, highly relevant and presented in a comprehensible way. It reads very well and provides useful insight into design and function of sensors aimed at detecting the SARS-CoV-2 viruses. This approach can also be extended towards other pathogens, upon appropriate modifications.

The manuscript can be accepted in the present form.

Author Response

Thanks a lot for this reviewer's positive comments and agreeing to accept the manuscript.

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors developed a  bioluminescent biosensor to analyze SARS-CoV-2 with drug candidate molecules.  SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) were fused with split luciferase so that inhibition of ACE2-RBD interaction results in lowered luciferase activity.  They could evaluate small molecules, antibodies, and peptides. The developed method was simple and fast. This reviewer believe that this method is useful for various applications. 

One minor comment:

The word 'sensitive' can be used when very low concentration of target molecule can be detected by the method. Thus, the word 'ultrasensitive' in the title seems inappropriate.

Author Response

Thanks this reviewer for positive comments and suggestion. To address the reviewer's suggestion for "ultrasensitive" word in the title, we have replaced the word "ultrasensitive" with "bioluminescent".