Adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 to ACE2 H353K mice reveals new spike residues that drive mouse infection.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause extraordinary loss of life and economic damage. Animal models of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are needed to better understand disease pathogenesis and evaluate preventive measures and therapies. While mice are widely used to model human disease, mouse angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) does not bind the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to mediate viral entry. To overcome this limitation, we "humanized" mouse Ace2 using CRISPR gene editing to introduce a single amino acid substitution, H353K, predicted to facilitate S protein binding. While H353K knockin Ace2 (mACE2 _H353K ) mice supported SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication, they exhibited minimal disease manifestations. Following 30 serial passages of ancestral SARS-CoV-2 in mACE2 _H353K mice, we generated and cloned a more virulent virus. A single isolate (SARS2 _MA-H353K ) was prepared for detailed studies. In 7-11-month-old mACE2 _H353K mice, a 10 ⁴ PFU inocula resulted in diffuse alveolar disease manifested as edema, hyaline membrane formation, and interstitial cellular infiltration/thickening. Unexpectedly, the mouse-adapted virus also infected standard BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and caused severe disease. The mouse-adapted virus acquired five new missense mutations including two in spike (K417E, Q493K), one each in nsp4, nsp9, and M and a single nucleotide change in the 5' untranslated region. The Q493K spike mutation arose early in serial passage and is predicted to provide affinity-enhancing molecular interactions with mACE2 and further increase the stability and affinity to the receptor. This new model and mouse-adapted virus will be useful to evaluate COVID-19 disease and prophylactic and therapeutic interventions.IMPORTANCEWe developed a new mouse model with a humanized angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) locus that preserves native regulatory elements. A single point mutation in mouse ACE2 (H353K) was sufficient to confer in vivo infection with ancestral severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 virus. Through in vivo serial passage, a virulent mouse-adapted strain was obtained. In aged mACE2H353K mice, the mouse-adapted strain caused diffuse alveolar disease. The mouse-adapted virus also infected standard BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, causing severe disease. The mouse-adapted virus acquired five new missense mutations including two in spike (K417E, Q493K), one each in nsp4, nsp9, and M and a single nucleotide change in the 5' untranslated region. The Q493K spike mutation arose early in serial passage and is predicted to provide affinity-enhancing molecular interactions with mACE2 and further increase the stability and affinity to the receptor. This new model and mouse-adapted virus will be useful to evaluate COVID-19 disease and prophylactic and therapeutic interventions.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.