CRISPR Publication Summary
High-throughput screening of genetic and cellular drivers of syncytium formation induced by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
Chan CWF, Wang B, Nan L, Huang X, Mao T, Chu HY, Luo C, Chu H, Choi GCG, Shum AHC, Wong ASL
Mapping mutations and discovering cellular determinants that cause the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to induce infected cells to form syncytia would facilitate the development of strategies for blocking the formation of such cell-cell fusion. Here we describe high-throughput screening methods based on droplet microfluidics and the size-exclusion selection of syncytia, coupled with large-scale mutagenesis and genome-wide knockout screening via clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), for the large-scale identification of determinants of cell-cell fusion. We used the methods to perform deep mutational scans in spike-presenting cells to pinpoint mutable syncytium-enhancing substitutions in two regions of the spike protein (the fusion peptide proximal region and the furin-cleavage site). We also used a genome-wide CRISPR screen in cells expressing the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 to identify inhibitors of clathrin-mediated endocytosis that impede syncytium formation, which we validated in hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2. Finding genetic and cellular determinants of the formation of syncytia may reveal insights into the physiological and pathological consequences of cell-cell fusion.
Nature biomedical engineering | 2023-11-23 | PUBMED: 37996617
Supplementary Files:
PMID37996617-Data-Figure4.xlsx