Coronavirus

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Biology

Isolation (microbiology)

Betacoronavirus

Virology

Middle East respiratory syndrome

TMPRSS2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Coronaviridae

Microbiology

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Internal medicine

Coronavirus Infections

Respiratory system

Medicine

Disease

Pathology

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

A novel betacoronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused a large respiratory outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 2019, is currently spreading across many countries globally. Here, we show that a TMPRSS2-expressing VeroE6 cell line is highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, making it useful for isolating and propagating SARS-CoV-2. Our results reveal that, in common with SARS- and Middle East respiratory syndrome-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 infection is enhanced by TMPRSS2.

Enhanced isolation of SARS-CoV-2 by TMPRSS2-expressing cells