Journal Article

SARS-CoV-2 entry factors are highly expressed in nasal epithelial cells together with innate immune genes

Barnes, Josephine L., Yoshida, Masahiro, Sampaziotis, Fotios, Huang, Ni, Worlock, Kaylee B., Talavera-López, Carlos, Litvinukova, Monika, Maatz, Henrike, Berg, Marijn, Queen, Rachel, Bécavin, Christophe, Reichart, Daniel, Sungnak, Waradon

2020

Overview

We investigated SARS-CoV-2 potential tropism by surveying expression of viral entry-associated genes in single-cell RNA-sequencing data from multiple tissues from healthy human donors. We co-detected these transcripts in specific respiratory, corneal and intestinal epithelial cells, potentially explaining the high efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. These genes are co-expressed in nasal epithelial cells with genes involved in innate immunity, highlighting the cells’ potential role in initial viral infection, spread and clearance. The study offers a useful resource for further lines of inquiry with valuable clinical samples from COVID-19 patients and we provide our data in a comprehensive, open and user-friendly fashion at www.covid19cellatlas.org . An analysis of single-cell transcriptomics datasets from different tissues shows that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are co-expressed in respiratory, corneal and intestinal epithelial cell populations, and that respiratory expression of ACE2 is associated with genes involved in innate immunity.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group US,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/250 / 631/326/596 / 631/337/2019 / ACE2 / Analysis / Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 / atp10b protein / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Brief Communication / c15orf48 protein / Cancer Research / cathepsin B / cathepsin L / cdc42ep5 protein / colon tissue / comparative study / Cornea / cornea epithelium / cornea tissue / coronavirus disease 2019 / COVID-19 / crym protein / cyp2f1 protein / Disease transmission / duoxa2 protein / Epithelial cells / epithelium cell / esophagus tissue / fam3d protein / fcgbp protein / fetus / fetus tissue / Gene expression / gene expression level / Gene sequencing / Genes / Genetic aspects / heart tissue / human / human cell / Human immunogenetics / human tissue / ido1 protein / ileum tissue / Immune clearance / immune response gene / Immunity / Infectious Diseases / Innate immunity / Intestine / kidney tissue / Life Sciences / liver tissue / lypd2 protein / marker gene / messenger RNA / Metabolic Diseases / Molecular Medicine / muscle tissue / mx1 protein / Neurosciences / nose epithelium / oas1 protein / pancreas tissue / priority journal / prkar2b protein / prostate stem cell antigen / prostate tissue / protein / protein S 100 / proteinase / rarres1 protein / retina tissue / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / single cell RNA seq / skeletal muscle / slc5a8 protein / spdef protein / spleen tissue / st3gal4 enzyme / st6gal1 enzyme / Surveying / testis tissue / tmprss2 protein / Transcriptomics / Tropism / ube2l6 protein / unclassified drug / Viral diseases / viral tropism / virus entry / virus enzyme / virus transmission / vitronectin