Tunneling nanotubes provide a route for SARS-CoV-2 spreading.
Sci Adv
; 8(29): eabo0171, 2022 Jul 22.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1949924
ABSTRACT
Neurological manifestations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection represent a major issue in long coronavirus disease. How SARS-CoV-2 gains access to the brain and how infection leads to neurological symptoms are not clear because the principal means of viral entry by endocytosis, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, are barely detectable in the brain. We report that human neuronal cells, nonpermissive to infection through the endocytic pathway, can be infected when cocultured with permissive infected epithelial cells. SARS-CoV-2 induces the formation of tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) and exploits this route to spread to uninfected cells. In cellulo correlative fluorescence and cryo-electron tomography reveal that SARS-CoV-2 is associated with TNTs between permissive cells. Furthermore, multiple vesicular structures such as double-membrane vesicles, sites of viral replication, are observed inside TNTs between permissive and nonpermissive cells. Our data highlight a previously unknown mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 spreading, likely used as a route to invade nonpermissive cells and potentiate infection in permissive cells.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Topics:
Long Covid
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Adv
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Sciadv.abo0171
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