Project description:For the assessment of host response dynamics to SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infections in human airway epithelial cells at ambient temperature corresponding to the upper or lower respiratory tract. We performed a temporal transcriptome analysis on human airway epithelial cell (hAEC) cultures infected with SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, as well as uninfected hAEC cultures, incubated either at 33°C or 37°C. hAEC cultures were harvested at 24, 48 72, 96 hpi and processed for Bulk RNA Barcoding and sequencing (BRB-seq), which allows a rapid and sensitive genome-wide transcriptomic analysis in a highly multiplexed manner. Transcriptome data was obtained from a total of 7 biological donors for pairwise comparisons of SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2 virus-infected to unexposed hAEC cultures at respective time points and temperatures.
Project description:The SARS-CoV-2 virus is continuously evolving, with appearance of new variants characterized by multiple genomic mutations, some of which can affect functional properties, including infectivity, interactions with host immunity, and disease severity. The rapid spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants has highlighted the urgency to trace the virus evolution, to help limit its diffusion, and to assess effectiveness of containment strategies. We propose here a PCR-based rapid, sensitive and low-cost allelic discrimination assay panel for the identification of SARS-CoV-2 genotypes, useful for detection in different sample types, such as nasopharyngeal swabs and wastewater. The tests carried out demonstrate that this in-house assay, whose results were confirmed by SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing, can detect variations in up to 10 viral genome positions at once and is specific and highly sensitive for identification of all tested SARS-CoV-2 clades, even in the case of samples very diluted and of poor quality, particularly difficult to analyze.
Project description:A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of COVID-19 and continues to be a global health challenge. To understand viral disease biology, we have carried out proteo-genomic analysis using next generation sequencing (NGS) and mass-spectrometry on nasopharyngeal swabs of COVID-19 patients to examine clinical genome and proteome. Our proteomic analysis, for the first time identified 13 different SARS-CoV-2 proteins from the clinical swabs. Additionally, host proteome analysis revealed several key host proteins to be uniquely expressed in COVID-19 patients. Besides revealing aspects of host-virus pathogenesis, our study opens avenues to develop better diagnostic markers and therapeutic strategies.
Project description:A recombinant SARS-CoV lacking the envelope (E) protein is attenuated in vivo. Here we report that E protein PDZ-binding motif (PBM), a domain involved in protein-protein interactions, is a major virulence determinant in vivo. Elimination of SARS-CoV E protein PBM by using reverse genetics led to attenuated viruses (SARS-CoV-mutPBM) and to a reduction in the deleterious exacerbate immune response triggered during infection with the parental virus (SARS-CoV-wt). Cellular protein syntenin bound E protein PBM during SARS-CoV infection. Syntenin activates p38 MAPK leading to overexpression of inflammatory cytokines, and we have shown that active p38 MAPK was reduced in lungs of mice infected with SARS-CoVs lacking E protein PBM (SARS-CoV-mutPBM) as compared with the parental virus (SARS-CoV-wt), leading to a decreased expression of inflammatory cytokines and to viral attenuation. Therefore, E protein PBM is a virulence factor that activates pathogenic immune response most likely by using syntenin as a mediator of p38 MAPK induced inflammation. Three biological replicates were independently hybridized (one channel per slide) for each sample type (SARS-CoV-wt, SARS-CoV-mutPBM, Mock). Slides were Sure Print G3 Agilent 8x60K Mouse (G4852A-028005)
Project description:To further investigate the underlying mechanisms of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pathogenesis and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of potential drugs and vaccines it is necessary to use an animal model that is highly representative of the human condition in terms of respiratory anatomy, physiology and clinical sequelae. The ferret, Mustela putorius furo, supports SARS-CoV replication and displays many of the symptoms and pathological features seen in SARS-CoV-infected humans. We have recently established a SARS-CoV infection-challenge ferret platform for use in evaluating potential therapeutics to treat SARS. The main objective of the current study was to extend our previous results and identify early host immune responses upon infection and determine immune correlates of protection upon challenge with SARS-CoV in ferrets. Keywords: time course This study is a simple time course (58 day) examination of host responses in 35 SARS-CoV (TOR2) infected ferrets with the addition of a challenge inoculation of SARS CoV (TOR2) at day 29 post infection. Three mock-infected ferrets are included as negative controls. Due to the unavailability of ferret microarrays, Affymetrix Canine 2.0 oligonucleotide arrays were chosen following sequence analysis of our ferret cDNA library (~5000 clones) and demonstration of high levels of homology (>80%) between dog and ferret.
Project description:To search for host factors regulating SARS-COV-2 infection, we performed a genome-wide loss-of-function CRISPR/Cas9 screen in haploid human ESCs. The regulators were identified by the quantification of enrichment of their mutant clones within a pooled loss-of-function library upon SARS-COV-2 infection.
Project description:In this study, we tested the efficacy of five commercial probes panels at detecting SARS-CoV-2 genome including panels from Illumina, Twist Bioscience and Arbor Bioscience. To do so, we used 19 patient nasal swab samples broken down into 5 series of 4 samples of equivalent SARS-CoV-2 viral load (cycle threshold (CT): low CT means a high viral load – CT26, CT29, CT32, CT35 and CT36+).
Project description:In this study, we tested the efficacy of five commercial probes panels at detecting SARS-CoV-2 genome including panels from Illumina, Twist Bioscience and Arbor Bioscience. To do so, we used 19 patient nasal swab samples broken down into 5 series of 4 samples of equivalent SARS-CoV-2 viral load (cycle threshold (CT): low CT means a high viral load – CT26, CT29, CT32, CT35 and CT36+).