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SARS-CoV-2 Is More Efficient than HCoV-NL63 in Infecting a Small Subpopulation of ACE2+ Human Respiratory Epithelial
Gino Castillo1, Rahul K Nelli1, Kruttika S Phadke2
1Department of Veterinary Diagnostic & Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, 1850 Christensen Drive, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Abstract:
Human coronavirus (HCoV)-NL63 is an important contributor to upper and lower respiratory tract infections, mainly in children, while severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of COVID-19, can cause lower respiratory tract infections, and more severe, respiratory and systemic disease, which leads to fatal consequences in many cases. Using microscopy, immunohistochemistry (IHC), virus-binding assay, reverse transcriptase qPCR (RT-qPCR) assay, and flow cytometry, we compared the characteristics of the susceptibility, replication dynamics, and morphogenesis of HCoV-NL63 and SARS-CoV-2 in monolayer cultures of primary human respiratory epithelial cells (HRECs). Less than 10% HRECs expressed ACE2, and SARS-CoV-2 seemed much more efficient than HCoV-NL63 at infecting the very small proportion of HRECs expressing the ACE2 receptors. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 replicated more efficiently than HCoV-NL63 in HREC, which correlates with the cumulative evidence of the differences in their transmissibility.
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