Biology subjects

Shi, Z.-L.

Publications and source records attributed to Shi, Z.-L..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Engineering customized viral receptors for various coronaviruses

Coronaviruses display versatile receptor usage, yet in-depth characterization of coronaviruses lacking known receptor identities has been impeded by the absence of feasible infection models1,2. Here, we developed an innovative strategy to engineer functional customized viral receptors (CVRs). The modular design relies on building receptor frameworks comprising various function modules and generating specific epitope-targeting viral binding domains. We showed the key factors for CVRs to efficiently facilitate spike cleavage, membrane fusion, pseudovirus entry, and authentic virus propagation for various coronaviruses, resembling their native receptors. Applying this strategy, we delineated the accessible receptor binding epitopes for functional SARS-CoV-2 CVR design and elucidated the mechanism of entry supported by an amino-terminus domain (NTD) targeting S2L20-CVR. Furthermore, we created CVR-expressing cells for assessing antibodies and inhibitors against 12 representative coronaviruses from six subgenera, most of which lacking known receptors. Notably, a pan-sarbecovirus CVR supported entry of various sarbecoviruses, as well as propagation of a replicable HKU3 pseudovirus and the authentic strain RsHuB2019A3. Through combining an HKU5-specific CVR with reverse genetics, we successfully rescued and cultured wild-type and fluorescence protein-incorporated HKU5, a receptor-unidentified merbecovirus. Our study demonstrated the great potential of CVR strategy in establishing native receptor-independent infection models, paving the way for studying various viruses that are challenging to culture due to the lack of susceptible cells. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=162 SRC="FIGDIR/small/583237v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (52K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7cb9ccorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@8a2855org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@5e14f0org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b0b993_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG O_FLOATNOGraphic abstractC_FLOATNO C_FIG

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2024

Unconventional IFNω-like genes dominate the type I IFN locus and the constitutive antiviral responses in bats

Bats are the natural reservoir hosts of some viruses, some of which may spillover to humans and cause global-scale pandemics. Different to humans, bats may coexist with high pathogenic viruses without showing symptoms of diseases. As one of the most important first defenses, bat type I interferon (IFN-Is) were thought to play a role during this virus coexistence and thus were studied in recent years. However, there are arguments that whether bats have a contracted genome locus or constitutive expressed IFNs, mainly due to species-specific findings. We hypothesized that because of the lacking of pan-bat analysis, the common characters for bat IFN-Is have not been revealed yet. Here, we characterized the IFN-I locus for 9 Yangochiroptera bats and 3 Yinpterochiroptera based on the their high quality bat genomes. We also compared the basal expression for 6 bats and compared the antiviral, anti-proliferative activity and thermo-stability of a representative Rhinolophus bat IFNs. We found a dominance of unconventional IFN{omega}-like responses in the IFN-I system, which is unique to bats. In contrast to IFNa-dominated IFN-I loci in the majority of other mammals, bats generally have shorter IFN-I loci with more unconventional IFN{omega}-like genes (IFN{omega} or related IFNa{omega}), but with less or even no IFNa genes. In addition, bats generally have constitutively expressed IFNs, the highest expressed of which is more likely an IFN{omega}-like gene. Likewise, the highly expressed IFN{omega}-like protein also demonstrated the best antiviral activity, anti-proliferative activity or thermo-stability, as shown in a representative Rhinolophus bat species. Overall, we revealed pan-bat unique characteristics in IFN-I system, which provide insights into our understanding of the innate immunity that contribute to a special coexistence between bats and viruses.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2024

Sarbecovirus RBD indels and specific residues dictating ACE2 multi-species adaptiveness

Sarbecoviruses exhibit varying abilities in using angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor1-3. However, a comprehensive understanding of their multi-species ACE2 adaptiveness and the underlying mechanism remains elusive, particularly for many sarbecoviruses with various receptor binding motif (RBM) insertions/deletions (indels)4-11. Here, we analyzed RBM sequences from 268 sarbecoviruses categorized into four RBM indel types. We extensively examined the capability of 14 representative sarbecoviruses and their derivatives in using ACE2 orthologues from 51 bats and five non-bat mammals. We revealed that most sarbecoviruses with longer RBMs (type-I), present broad ACE2 tropism, whereas viruses with single deletions in Region 1 (type-II) or Region 2 (type-III) generally exhibit narrow ACE2 tropism, typically favoring their hosts ACE2. Sarbecoviruses with double region deletions (type-IV) exhibit a complete loss of ACE2 usage. Subsequent investigations unveiled that both loop deletions and critical RBM residues significantly impact multi-species ACE2 tropism in different ways. Additionally, fine mapping based on type-IV sarbecoviruses elucidated the role of several clade-specific residues, both within and outside the RBM, in restricting ACE2 usage. Lastly, we hypothesized the evolution of sarbecovirus RBM indels and illustrated how loop length, disulfide, and adaptive mutations shape their multi-species ACE2 adaptiveness. This study provides profound insights into the mechanisms governing ACE2 usage and spillover risks of sarbecoviruses.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Deep spatial proteomic exploration of severe COVID-19-related pulmonary injury in post-mortem specimens

The lung, as a primary target of SARS-CoV-2, exhibits heterogeneous microenvironment accompanied by various histopathological changes following virus infection. However, comprehensive insight into the protein basis of COVID-19-related pulmonary injury with spatial resolution is currently deficient. Here, we generated a region-resolved quantitative proteomic atlas of seven major pathological structures within the lungs of COVID-19 victims by integrating histological examination, laser microdissection, and ultrasensitive proteomic technologies. Over 10,000 proteins were quantified across 71 dissected FFPE post-mortem specimens. By comparison with control samples, we identified a spectrum of COVID-19-induced protein and pathway dysregulations in alveolar epithelium, bronchial epithelium, and pulmonary blood vessels, providing evidence for the proliferation of transitional-state pneumocytes. Additionally, we profiled the region-specific proteomes of hallmark COVID-19 pulmonary injuries, including bronchiole mucus plug, pulmonary fibrosis, airspace inflammation, and hyperplastic alveolar type 2 cells. Bioinformatic analysis revealed the enrichment of cell-type and functional markers in these regions (e.g. enriched TGFBI in fibrotic region). Furthermore, we identified the up-regulation of proteins associated with viral entry, host restriction, and inflammatory response in COVID-19 lungs, such as FURIN and HGF. Collectively, this study provides spatial proteomic insights for understanding COVID-19-caused pulmonary injury, and may serve as a valuable reference for improving therapeutic intervention for severe pneumonia.

systems biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Discovery of a novel coronavirus associated with the recent pneumonia outbreak in humans and its potential bat origin

Since the SARS outbreak 18 years ago, a large number of severe acute respiratory syndrome related coronaviruses (SARSr-CoV) have been discovered in their natural reservoir host, bats1-4. Previous studies indicated that some of those bat SARSr-CoVs have the potential to infect humans5-7. Here we report the identification and characterization of a novel coronavirus (nCoV-2019) which caused an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans, in Wuhan, China. The epidemic, started from December 12th, 2019, has caused 198 laboratory confirmed infections with three fatal cases by January 20th, 2020. Full-length genome sequences were obtained from five patients at the early stage of the outbreak. They are almost identical to each other and share 79.5% sequence identify to SARS-CoV. Furthermore, it was found that nCoV-2019 is 96% identical at the whole genome level to a bat coronavirus. The pairwise protein sequence analysis of seven conserved non-structural proteins show that this virus belongs to the species of SARSr-CoV. The nCoV-2019 virus was then isolated from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of a critically ill patient, which can be neutralized by sera from several patients. Importantly, we have confirmed that this novel CoV uses the same cell entry receptor, ACE2, as SARS-CoV.

microbiology↗