Extended Data Figure 3. Virus replication in infected Syrian hamsters.

(a) Body weight loss at indicated time points after infection of Syrian hamsters. Donor animals (n=6; black dots) were intranasally inoculated with SARS-CoV-2^S−614D / SARS-CoV-2^S−614G at equal ratio (1×10^4.77 TCID₅₀/animal as determined by backtitration of the original inoculum). 24h after infection, naïve hamsters (n=6; orange triangles) were housed in direct contact in an “one-to-one” experimental setup. (b) Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of individual nasal washing samples obtained from donor hamsters and contact animals, respectively. (c) Body weight loss at the indicated time points after infection of the hamsters. Syrian hamsters were inoculated with 10^5.1 TCID50/animal of SARS-CoV-2^S−614D (n=7, blue dots), or 10^4.5 TCID50/animal SARS-CoV-2^S−614G (n=7, red triangles) via the intranasal route. Titers were determined by backtitration of the original inoculation material. (d) Viral genome copy numbers are shown as determined by RT-qPCR from individual nasal washing samples of the animals inoculated with the single variant virus. (e) Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of tissue homogenates of inoculated hamsters of the SARS-CoV-2^S−614D group (n=7, blue dots) versus the SARS-CoV-2^S−614G group (n=7, red triangles).