Journal Article

Membrane-wide screening identifies potential tissue-specific determinants of SARS-CoV-2 tropism

Zengel, James, Howitt, Brooke E., Carette, Jan, Cong, Le, Qu, Yuanhao, Cousins, Henry, Barnard, Trisha R., Wilk, Aaron J., Wang, Mengdi, Dinesh, Ravi K., Zhang, Tianyi, Johnson, William A., Beck, Aimee, Magazine, Nicholas, Wang, Xiaotong, Peters-Schulze, Grace, Rustagi, Arjun, Altman, Russ, Wang, Chengkun, Xu, Guangxue, Blish, Catherine A., Heilbroner, Lucas Miecho, Huang, Weishan

2025

Overview

While SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects the respiratory tract, clinical evidence indicates that cells from diverse cell types and organs are also susceptible to infection. Using the CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) approach, we systematically targeted human membrane proteins in cells with and without overexpression of ACE2, thus identifying unrecognized host factors that may facilitate viral entry. Validation experiments with replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 confirmed the role of newly identified host factors, particularly the endo-lysosomal protease legumain (LGMN) and the potassium channel KCNA6, upon exogenous overexpression. In orthogonal experiments, we show that disruption of endogenous LGMN or KCNA6 decreases viral infection and that inhibitors of candidate factors can reduce viral entry. Additionally, using clinical data, we find possible associations between expression of either LGMN or KCNA6 and SARS-CoV-2 infection in human tissues. Our results identify potentially druggable host factors involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry, and demonstrate the utility of focused, membrane-wide CRISPRa screens in uncovering tissue-specific entry factors of emerging pathogens.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: ACE2 / Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 / Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 - genetics / Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 - metabolism / Antigens, Differentiation / Biology and life sciences / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - metabolism / COVID-19 - virology / CRISPR / CRISPR-Cas Systems / Enzymes / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genomes / Genomics / HEK293 Cells / Heparan sulfate / Human tissues / Humans / Infections / Legumain / Medical research / Medicine and health sciences / Membrane proteins / Membranes / Organ Specificity / Pandemics / Proteases / Proteins / Research and Analysis Methods / Respiratory tract / SARS-CoV-2 - physiology / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Tropism / Tropisms / Viral diseases / Viral Tropism - physiology / Virus Internalization / Virus research / Viruses