Species-Specific Molecular Barriers to SARS-CoV-2 Replication in Bat Cells. ...

• Main Authors: Aicher, Sophie-Marie, Streicher, Felix, Chazal, Maxime, Planas, Delphine, Luo, Dongsheng, Buchrieser, Julian, Nemcova, Monika, Seidlova, Veronika, Zukal, Jan, Serra-Cobo, Jordi, Pontier, Dominique, Pain, Bertrand, Zimmer, Gert, Schwartz, Olivier, Roingeard, Philippe, Pikula, Jiri, Dacheux, Laurent, Jouvenet, Nolwenn
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2022
• Subjects: 630 Agriculture; Nyctalus noctula
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48350/171463; https://boris.unibe.ch/171463/

Bats are natural reservoirs of numerous coronaviruses, including the potential ancestor of SARS-CoV-2. Knowledge concerning the interaction between coronaviruses and bat cells is sparse. We investigated the ability of primary cells from Rhinolophus and Myotis species, as well as of established and novel cell lines from Myotis myotis, Eptesicus serotinus, Tadarida brasiliensis, and Nyctalus noctula, to support SARS-CoV-2 replication. None of these cells were permissive to infection, not even the ones expressing detectable levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which serves as the viral receptor in many mammalian species. The resistance to infection was overcome by expression of human ACE2 (hACE2) in three cell lines, suggesting that the restriction to viral replication was due to a low expression of bat ACE2 (bACE2) or the absence of bACE2 binding in these cells. Infectious virions were produced but not released from hACE2-transduced M. myotis brain cells. E. serotinus brain cells and M. myotis ...