Susceptibility of Well-Differentiated Airway Epithelial Cell Cultures From
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bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.10.374587; this version posted November 10, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Susceptibility of well-differentiated airway epithelial cell 2 cultures from domestic and wildlife animals to SARS-CoV-2 3 4 Mitra Gultom1,2,3,4, Matthias Licheri4, Laura Laloli1,2,3,4, Manon Wider4, Marina Strässle1,2,5, Silvio 5 Steiner1,2,3, Annika Kratzel1,2,3, Tran Thi Nhu Thao 1,2,3, Hanspeter Stalder1,2, Jasmine Portmann 1,2, 6 Melle Holwerda1,2,3,4, Philip V'kovski1,2#, Nadine Ebert1,2, Nadine Stokar – Regenscheit2,6, Corinne 7 Gurtner2,6, Patrik Zanolari7, Horst Posthaus2,6, Simone Schuller8, Amanda Vicente – Santos9, Andres 8 Moreira – Soto9,10, Eugenia Corrales – Aguilar9, Nicolas Ruggli1, Gergely Tekes11, Veronika von 9 Messling12, Bevan Sawatsky12, Volker Thiel1,2, Ronald Dijkman1,2,4§ 10 11 1Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI), Bern and Mittelhäusern, Switzerland 12 2Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, 13 Bern, Switzerland 14 3Graduate School for Biomedical Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 15 4Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 16 5Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 17 6Institute of Animal Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 18 7Clinic for Ruminants, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 19 8Small animal clinic, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 20 9Virology-Research Center for tropical diseases (CIET), University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica 21 10Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, 22 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany 23 11Institute of Virology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany 24 12Division of Veterinary Medicine, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Langen, 25 Germany 26 27 # Current address: Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 28 §corresponding author: Ronald Dijkman, email: [email protected], 29 phone: +41 31 664 07 83 30 31 32 Abstract: 173 words 33 Main text: 2081 words bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.10.374587; this version posted November 10, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 34 Abstract 35 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally, and the number 36 of cases continues to rise all over the world. Besides humans, the zoonotic origin, as well as 37 intermediate and potential spillback host reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 are unknown. To circumvent ethical 38 and experimental constraints, and more importantly, to reduce and refine animal experimentation, we 39 employed our airway epithelial cell (AEC) culture repository composed of various domesticated and 40 wildlife animal species to assess their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we inoculated well- 41 differentiated animal AEC cultures of monkey, cat, ferret, dog, rabbit, pig, cattle, goat, llama, camel, 42 and two neotropical bat species with SARS-CoV-2. We observed that SARS-CoV-2 only replicated 43 efficiently in monkey and cat AEC culture models. Whole-genome sequencing of progeny virus 44 revealed no obvious signs of nucleotide transitions required for SARS-CoV-2 to productively infect 45 monkey and cat epithelial airway cells. Our findings, together with the previously reported human-to- 46 animal spillover events warrants close surveillance to understand the potential role of cats, monkeys, 47 and closely related species as spillback reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.10.374587; this version posted November 10, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 48 Introduction 49 During the last two decades we have observed zoonotic outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory 50 Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS- 51 CoV) in 2012 1,2. These outbreaks are followed by the current pandemic which caused by zoonotic 52 emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) 3,4. Although 53 humans are currently seen as the main hosts, the zoonotic origin, as well as the intermediate and 54 potential spillback host reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 is unknown. Interestingly, several reports indicate 55 that SARS-CoV-2 spillover events from human to other animal species can occur 5–9. These events are 56 likely driven by close human-animal interactions and the conservation of crucial receptor binding motif 57 (RBM) residues in the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) orthologues, potentially facilitating 58 SARS-CoV-2 entry 10,11. This highlights the need to assess the potential host spectrum for SARS-CoV-2 59 in order to support current pandemic mitigation strategies. 60 Besides risk assessment of the host spectrum, viral pathogenesis studies, as well as all novel 61 antiviral drugs, immunotherapies, and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, will require evaluation in animal 62 models. Therefore, a large variety of animal species are tested on their susceptibility 12–14. Traditionally 63 such experiments have several drawbacks in terms of animal model diversity and availability, including 64 dedicated personnel, housing facilities, and most importantly, ethical approval. Some of these factors 65 are especially limited in the context of wildlife, and livestock animals, such as pig, cattle and other 66 ruminants, and in case of companion animals and non-human primates there are additional 67 socioemotional ethical constraints to be overcome. 68 In this study, we evaluated the susceptibility of several mammalian species to SARS-CoV-2 by 69 recapitulating the initial stages of infection in a controlled in vitro model, in compliance with the 70 reduction, refinement and replacement principles in animal experimentation, whilst at the same time 71 circumventing traditional in vivo experimental constraints. We employed a unique well-differentiated 72 airway epithelial cell (AEC) culture repository from primary tracheobronchial airway tissue of 12 73 mammalian species comprising companion animals, animal model candidates, livestock, and wild 74 animals to assess their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In order to control for the quality of the 75 AEC, we used influenza viruses that have a known broad host tropism 15–17. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.10.374587; this version posted November 10, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 76 Results 77 The main goal of our study is to evaluate the susceptibility of a diverse set of animal species to SARS- 78 CoV-2 infection. We employed well-differentiated AEC cultures reconstituted from tracheobronchial 79 epithelial tissue, thereby replacing animal experimentation. In total, we obtained post-mortem 80 tracheobronchial airway tissue material from animal species, comprising companion animals (cat, 81 dog), commonly used animal models (rhesus macaque, ferret, and rabbit), livestock (pig, cattle, goat, 82 camel, and llama), and two neotropical frugivorous bat species (Sturnira lilium and Carollia 83 perspicillata). Following isolation of primary airway epithelial cells, well-differentiated AEC cultures 84 were established and maintained as performed previously for human AEC cultures, with individual 85 modifications for each species (Table. 1) 18. After 4 to 6 weeks of differentiation we inoculated each 86 culture with 30.000 PFU of the SARS-CoV-2/München-1.1/2020/929 isolate, representing the current 87 circulating SpikeD614G variant 19. Viral progeny release was monitored by quantifying the viral titer and 88 viral RNA in the apical washes that were collected every 24 hours for a duration of 96 hours. Since we 89 previously observed that SARS-CoV-2 replication efficiency in the human respiratory tract is influenced 90 by the ambient temperature, the infection was carried out at either 33°C or 37°C 20. 91 The quantification of the viral RNA load at both temperatures showed that there was a 92 progressive 4-log fold increase in viral RNA load at 72- and 96-hours post-infection (hpi) in rhesus 93 macaque and cat AEC cultures. In contrast, for the remaining animal AEC cultures either a continuous 94 or declining level of viral RNA load was detected throughout the entire time course (Fig. 1a and b, Fig. 95 S1b and c). Because molecular assays do not discern between infectious and non-infectious virus, we 96 also performed viral titration assays with the corresponding apical washes 21. This corroborated our 97 previous findings, namely that only AEC cultures derived from rhesus macaque and cat displayed a 98 progressive increase in viral SARS-CoV-2 titers over time, while for the majority of species no infectious 99 virus was detected beyond 24 hpi (Fig. 1c and d, Fig. S1d and e). The viral titers observed in the rhesus 100 macaque and cat AEC cultures are comparable to those that we previously observed for human AEC 101 cultures, where we also observed a 4-log fold rise of progeny released virus in the apical side 20.