Project description:In 2014, enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), previously associated primarily with mild respiratory illness, caused a large outbreak of severe respiratory illness and, in rare instances, paralysis. We compared viral binding and replication of eight recent EV-D68 clinical isolates and the prototype Fermon strain from 1962 in cultured HeLa cells and differentiated human primary bronchial epithelial cells (BEC) to understand the possible reasons for the change in virus pathogenicity. We found no significant differences in binding or replication in HeLa cell cultures between the recent clinical isolates. However, in HeLa cells, Fermon had significantly greater (1.5-2 log) binding and virus progeny yields but a similar level of replication (~2-log increase in viral RNA from 2h to 24h post infection) compared to recent isolates. In differentiated BECs, Fermon and the recent EV-D68 isolates had similar levels of binding; however, the recent isolates produced 1-2-log higher virus progeny yields than Fermon due to increased replication. We then utilized RNA-seq to define the transcriptional responses in BECs infected with four recent EV-D68 isolates, representing major phylogenetic clades, and Fermon strain. All the tested clinical isolates induced similar responses in BECs; however, numerous upregulated genes in antiviral and pro-inflammatory response pathways were identified when comparing the response to clinical isolates versus Fermon. These results indicate that the recent emergence in severe EV-D68 cases could be explained by increased replication efficiency and enhanced inflammatory response induced by newly emerged clinical isolates.
Project description:H1-HeLa cells were stably transduced with lentiCas9-Blast (Addgene, Plasmid #52962) and subsequently selected using blasticidin to generate constitutively expressing Cas9 H1-HeLa cells. A single Cas9-expressing H1-HeLa clone was then transduced with lentivirus without a selection marker to stably express CDHR3 C529Y (H1-HeLa+CDHR3). A single CDHR3-expressing H1-HeLa clone was then chosen based on RT-qPCR of CHDR3 expression and RV-C15 RNA levels for mutagenesis. 300 million of the H1-HeLa cells constitutively expressing CDHR3 and Cas9 were transduced with the lentiGuide-Puro from the GeCKO v2 library at a MOI of 0.3. Cells were selected using puromycin and heterogeneous H1-HeLa knockout cell populations were subsequently pooled together. The CRISPR genetic screens were started 10 days post transduction. >1000-fold coverage of mutagenized cells (libraries A and B) was infected with either RV-C15 (MOI=1 PFU/cell) or EV-D68 Missouri (MOI=1 PFU/cell). RV-C15 infection was repeated for an additional round at 6 days post-infection. As soon as appearance of visibly viable colonies was observed, populations of virus-resistant cells were pooled and harvested. Uninfected starting populations of mutagenized cells were used as the unselected reference. Total genomic DNA from both virus-resistant and uninfected cells was respectively extracted using QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen). The inserted guide RNA sequences were retrieved from the genomic DNA by PCR amplification. The PCR products were then purified and subjected to NextSeq platform (Illumina) next-generation sequencing.
Project description:Worldwide outbreaks of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in 2014 and 2016 have caused serious respiratory and neurological disease. To investigate diversity, spread, and evolution of EV-D68 we performed near full-length deep sequencing in fifty-four samples obtained in Sweden during the 2014 and 2016 outbreaks. In most samples, intrapatient variability was low and dominated by rare synonymous variants, but three patients showed evidence of dual infections with distinct EV-D68 variants from the same subclade. Interpatient evolution showed a very strong temporal signal, with an evolutionary rate of 0.0039 ± 0.0001 substitutions per site and year. Phylogenetic trees reconstructed from the sequences suggest that EV-D68 was introduced into Stockholm several times during the 2016 outbreak. Putative neutralization targets in the BC and DE loops of the VP1 protein were slightly more diverse within-host and tended to undergo more frequent substitution than other genomic regions. However, evolution in these loops did not appear to have been driven the emergence of the 2016 B3-subclade directly from the 2014 B1-subclade. Instead, the most recent ancestor of both clades was dated to 2009. The study provides a comprehensive description of the intra- and interpatient evolution of EV-D68, including the first report of intrapatient diversity and dual infections. The new data along with publicly available EV-D68 sequences are included in an interactive phylodynamic analysis on nextstrain.org/enterovirus/d68 to facilitate timely EV-D68 tracking in the future.
Project description:Enterovirus-D68 genomic sequencing of 2014 US outbreak strains to understand its evolutionary dynamics and increased disease severity