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A gateway for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human olfactory neuroepithelium

ABSTRACT: Various reports indicate an association between COVID-19 and anosmia, suggesting an infection of the olfactory sensory epithelium, and thus a possible direct virus access to the brain. To test this hypothesis, we generated RNA-seq libraries from human olfactory neuroepithelia, in which we found substantial expression of the genes coding for the virus receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), and for the virus internalization enhancer TMPRSS2. We analyzed a human olfactory single-cell RNA-seq dataset and determined that sustentacular cells, which maintain the integrity of olfactory sensory neurons, express ACE2 and TMPRSS2. We then observed that the ACE2 protein was highly expressed in a subset of sustentacular cells in human and mouse olfactory tissues. Finally, we found ACE2 transcripts in specific brain cell types, both in mice and humans. Sustentacular cells thus represent a potential entry door for SARS-CoV-2 in a neuronal sensory system that is in direct connection with the brain.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE151973 | GEO | 2020/11/13

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Ongoing, lifelong neurogenesis maintains the neuronal population of the olfactory epithelium in the face of piecemeal neuronal turnover and restores it following wholesale loss. The molecular phenotypes corresponding to different stages along the progression from multipotent globose basal cell (GBC) progenitor to differentiated olfactory sensory neuron are poorly characterized. We used the transgenic expression of GFP and cell surface markers to FACS-isolate Sox2-GFP(+) GBCs, Neurog1-GFP(+) GBCs and immature neurons, and OMP-GFP(+) mature neurons from normal adult mice. In addition, the latter two populations were also collected 3 weeks after olfactory bulb ablation, a lesion that results in persistently elevated neurogenesis. Global profiling of mRNA from the populations indicates that all stages of neurogenesis share a cohort of >2100 genes that are upregulated compared to sustentacular cells. A further cohort of >1200 genes are specifically upregulated in GBCs as compared to sustentacular cells and differentiated neurons. The increased rate of neurogenesis caused by olfactory bulbectomy had little effect on the transcriptional profile of the Neurog1-GFP(+) population. In contrast, the abbreviated lifespan of OMP-GFP(+) neurons born in the absence of the bulb correlated with substantial differences in gene expression as compared to the mature neurons of the normal epithelium. Detailed examination of the specific genes upregulated in the different progenitor populations revealed that the chromatin modifying complex proteins LSD1 and coREST were expressed sequentially in upstream Sox2-GFP(+) GBCs and Neurog1-GFP(+) GBCs/immature neurons. The expression patterns of these proteins are dynamically regulated after activation of the epithelium by methyl bromide lesion. Total RNA was isolated from dissected, dissociated and FACS-purified olfactory mucosal cells from normal adult mice or mice 3 weeks after unilateral bulbectomy. Cells were purified with FACS using endogenous GFP fluorescence from various transgenic lines and cell surface labeling. Two to seven adult mice were used per replicate and three replicates per condition were performed using Illumina bead arrays. 21 samples from olfactory mucosa were analyzed in this series and 3 samples were from a commercially available reference RNA sample. Universal mouse reference RNA from Stratagene was used as a general control and Normal olfactory mucosa was used as a tissue specific control.

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A gateway for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human olfactory neuroepithelium

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