A mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain replicating in standard laboratory mice

Montagutelli, Xavier; Prot, Matthieu; Jouvion, Grégory; Levillayer, Laurine; Conquet, Laurine; Reyes-Gomez, Edouard; Donati, Flora; Albert, Melanie; van der Werf, Sylvie; Jaubert, Jean; Simon-Lorière, Etienne

SARS-CoV-2 has infected almost 200 million humans and caused over 4 million deaths worldwide. Evaluating countermeasures and improving our understanding of COVID-19 pathophysiology require access to animal models that replicate the hallmarks of human disease. Mouse infection with SARS-CoV-2 is limited by poor affinity between the virus spike protein and its cellular receptor ACE2. We have developed by serial passages the MACo3 virus strain which efficiently replicates in the lungs of standard mouse strains and induces age-dependent lung lesions. Compared to other mouse-adapted strains and severe mouse models, infection with MACo3 results in mild to moderate disease and will be useful to investigate the role of host genetics and other factors modulating COVID-19 severity.