Open Access

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 119, issue 1

SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission

Cong Zeng ^{1, 2}

John P. Evans ^{1, 2, 3}

Tiffany King ^{4, 5}

Yi-Min Zheng ^{1, 2}

Eugene M. Oltz ⁶

Sean Whelan ⁷

Linda J. Saif ^{8, 9, 10}

Mark E. Peeples ^{4, 5, 10}

Shan-Lu Liu ^{1, 2, 6, 10}

Hide authors affiliations Show authors affiliations: 10 affiliations

Center for Retrovirus Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210; |

Department of Veterinary Biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210; |

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210; |

⁴

Center for Vaccines and Immunity, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205; |

⁵

Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH 43205; |

⁶

Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH 43210; |

⁷

Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110; |

⁸

Center for Food Animal Health, Animal Sciences Department, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691; |

⁹

Veterinary Preventive Medicine Department, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691; |

¹⁰

Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2021-12-22

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SJR: 3.737

CiteScore: 19.0

Impact factor: 9.4

ISSN: 00278424, 10916490

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111400119

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Multidisciplinary

Abstract

Significance

It is currently unknown if SARS-CoV-2 can spread through cell–cell contacts, and if so, the underlying mechanisms and implications. In this work, we show, by using lentiviral pseudotyped virus, that the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 mediates the viral cell-to-cell transmission, with an efficiency higher than that of SARS-CoV. We also find that cell–cell fusion contributes to cell-to-cell transmission, yet ACE2 is not absolutely required. While the authentic variants of concern (VOCs) B.1.1.7 (alpha) and B.1.351 (beta) differ in cell-free infectivity from wild type and from each other, these VOCs have similar cell-to-cell transmission capability and exhibit differential sensitivity to neutralization by vaccinee sera. Results from our study will contribute to a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 spread and pathogenesis.

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GOST |

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GOST Copy

Zeng C. et al. SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2021. Vol. 119. No. 1.

GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy

Zeng C., Evans J. P., King T., Zheng Y., Oltz E. M., Whelan S., Saif L. J., Peeples M. E., Liu S. SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2021. Vol. 119. No. 1.

RIS |

Cite this

RIS Copy

TY - JOUR

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2111400119

UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111400119

TI - SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission

T2 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

AU - Zeng, Cong

AU - Evans, John P.

AU - King, Tiffany

AU - Zheng, Yi-Min

AU - Oltz, Eugene M.

AU - Whelan, Sean

AU - Saif, Linda J.

AU - Peeples, Mark E.

AU - Liu, Shan-Lu

PY - 2021

DA - 2021/12/22

PB - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

IS - 1

VL - 119

SN - 0027-8424

SN - 1091-6490

ER -

BibTex

Cite this

BibTex (up to 50 authors) Copy

@article{2021_Zeng,

author = {Cong Zeng and John P. Evans and Tiffany King and Yi-Min Zheng and Eugene M. Oltz and Sean Whelan and Linda J. Saif and Mark E. Peeples and Shan-Lu Liu},

title = {SARS-CoV-2 spreads through cell-to-cell transmission},

journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},

year = {2021},

volume = {119},

publisher = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)},

month = {dec},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111400119},

number = {1},

doi = {10.1073/pnas.2111400119}

}

Found error?

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SJR

3.737

CiteScore

19.0

Impact factor

9.4

ISSN

00278424 (Print)

10916490 (Electronic)