Lipid and nucleocapsid N-protein accumulation in COVID-19 patient lung and infected cells

Grootemaat, A.; van der Niet, S.; Scholl, E. R.; Roos, E.; Schurink, B.; Bugiani, M.; Miller, S. E.; Larsen, P. W.; Pankras, J.; Reits, E. E.; van der Wel, N. N.

doi:10.1101/2021.06.24.449252

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.06.24.449252

Lipid and nucleocapsid N-protein accumulation in COVID-19 patient lung and infected cells

Grootemaat, A.·van der Niet, S.·Scholl, E. R.·Roos, E.·Schurink, B.·Bugiani, M.·Miller, S. E.·Larsen, P. W.·Pankras, J.·Reits, E. E.·van der Wel, N. N.

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Abstract

The pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global outbreak and prompted an enormous research effort. Still, the subcellular localization of the corona virus in lungs of COVID-19 patients is not well understood. Here, the localization of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins is studied in postmortem lung material of COVID-19 patients and in SARS- CoV-2 infected Vero cells, processed identically. Correlative light and electron microscopy on semi- thick cryo-sections, demonstrated induction of electron-lucent, lipid filled compartments after SARS- CoV-2 infection in both lung and cell cultures. In lung tissue, the non-structural protein 4 and the stable nucleocapsid N-protein, were detected on these novel lipid filled compartments. The induction of such lipid filled compartments and the localization of the viral proteins in lung of patients with fatal COVID-19, may explain the extensive inflammatory response and provide a new hallmark for SARS- Cov-2 infection at the final, fatal stage of infection.

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Grootemaat, A., van der Niet, S., Scholl, E. R., Roos, E., Schurink, B., Bugiani, M., Miller, S. E., Larsen, P. W., Pankras, J., Reits, E. E., van der Wel, N. N.. 2021-06-24. Lipid and nucleocapsid N-protein accumulation in COVID-19 patient lung and infected cells. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.24.449252

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