Gultom, Mitra; Kratzel, Annika; Portmann, Jasmine; Stalder, Hanspeter; Chanfon Bätzner, Astrid; Gantenbein, Hans; Gurtner, Corinne; Ebert, Nadine; Gad, Hans Henrik; Hartmann, Rune; Posthaus, Horst; Zanolari, Patrik; Pfaender, Stephanie; Thiel, Volker Earl; Dijkman, Ronald (2022). Establishment of well-differentiated camelid airway cultures to study Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Scientific reports, 12(1), p. 10340. Springer Nature 10.1038/s41598-022-13777-y
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In 2012, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged in Saudi Arabia and was mostly associated with severe respiratory illness in humans. Dromedary camels are the zoonotic reservoir for MERS-CoV. To investigate the biology of MERS-CoV in camelids, we developed a well-differentiated airway epithelial cell (AEC) culture model for Llama glama and Camelus bactrianus. Histological characterization revealed progressive epithelial cellular differentiation with well-resemblance to autologous ex vivo tissues. We demonstrate that MERS-CoV displays a divergent cell tropism and replication kinetics profile in both AEC models. Furthermore, we observed that in the camelid AEC models MERS-CoV replication can be inhibited by both type I and III interferons (IFNs). In conclusion, we successfully established camelid AEC cultures that recapitulate the in vivo airway epithelium and reflect MERS-CoV infection in vivo. In combination with human AEC cultures, this system allows detailed characterization of the molecular basis of MERS-CoV cross-species transmission in respiratory epithelium.
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