Establishment of well-differentiated camelid airway cultures to study Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

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Abstract

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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Gultom, M., Kratzel, A., Portmann, J., Stalder, H., Chanfon Bätzner, A., Gantenbein, H., … Dijkman, R. (2022). Establishment of well-differentiated camelid airway cultures to study Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. Scientific Reports, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13777-y

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