Figure 2.

SARS-CoV-2 D614G S Protein Variant Enhances Infectivity of Pseudotyped Lentiviruses in Cell Culture

(A) Lentiviral virions bearing either GFP or Luciferase transgenes, and pseudotyped with either SARS-CoV-2 D614 or D614G S proteins, were produced by transfection of HEK293 cells and used to transduce human Calu3 lung cells, Caco2 colon cells, and either HEK293 or SupT1 cells stably expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Relative infectivity of D614G versus D614, with D614 set at one, was determined based on flow cytometry for percent GFP positivity or on bulk luciferase activity. Each point represents the mean ± SD for transduction with lentiviral stocks derived from independent transfections, each value of which is the mean of three technical replicates. P values are the ratio paired t test (two-tailed).

(B) Lentiviral virions bearing a luciferase transgene, pseudotyped with either SARS-CoV-2 D614 or D614G S proteins, were produced by transfection of HEK293 cells and used to transduce human HEK293 cells transiently transfected with plasmids encoding the indicated ACE2 orthologs. Relative infectivity of D614G versus D614, with D614 set at one, was determined based on bulk luciferase activity. Each point represents the mean ± SD after transduction by using lentiviral stock derived from an independent transfection, each of which is the mean of three technical replicates. P values are ratio paired t test (two-tailed).