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Common Laboratory Mice Are Susceptible to Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta Variant

Authors :
Ravi Kant
Lauri Kareinen
Teemu Smura
Tobias L. Freitag
Sawan Kumar Jha
Kari Alitalo
Seppo Meri
Tarja Sironen
Kalle Saksela
Tomas Strandin
Anja Kipar
Olli Vapalahti
Source :
Viruses, Vol 13, Iss 11, p 2263 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Small animal models are of crucial importance for assessing COVID-19 countermeasures. Common laboratory mice would be well-suited for this purpose but are not susceptible to infection with wild-type SARS-CoV-2. However, the development of mouse-adapted virus strains has revealed key mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that increase infectivity, and interestingly, many of these mutations are also present in naturally occurring SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. This suggests that these variants might have the ability to infect common laboratory mice. Herein we show that the SARS-CoV-2 beta variant attains infectibility to BALB/c mice and causes pulmonary changes within 2–3 days post infection, consistent with results seen in other murine models of COVID-19, at a reasonable virus dose (2 × 105 PFU). The findings suggest that common laboratory mice can serve as the animal model of choice for testing the effectiveness of antiviral drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19994915
Volume :
13
Issue :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Viruses
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.9db092c8cdc34f92a0a8969eeb34ef38
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/v13112263