RNA-Seq Quantitative Analysis of the regulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection on autophagy and apoptosis related gene transcriptome in infected cells

In our study, we found that SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions infection induced high levels of autophagy and apoptosis in infected cells. To further investigate the underlying regualtion of SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions infection in infected cells, ACE2-expressing HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 cells were treated with Mock or SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions for RNA-Seq analysis to exame the expression of autophagy- and apoptosis-related genes. Our results indicate that the majority of autophagy- and apoptosis-promoting genes were significantly increased in SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions treated HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 cells. In contrast, the subset of autophagy- and apoptosis-suppressing genes was significantly decreased in SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions-treated HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 cells than Mock-treated HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 cells. Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions infection enhanced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in infected cells. Overall design: Examination of SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions infected HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 cells and Mock treated HEK293T-hACE2 and Vero E6 control group

本研究中，我们发现SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒（SARS-CoV-2-S pseudovirions）感染可在受染细胞中诱导高水平的自噬与凋亡。为进一步探究SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒感染在受染细胞中的潜在调控机制，我们将表达血管紧张素转换酶2（ACE2）的HEK293T-hACE2细胞与Vero E6细胞分别经Mock处理或SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒感染后，进行RNA测序（RNA-Seq）分析，以检测自噬与凋亡相关基因的表达水平。本研究结果显示，在经SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒处理的HEK293T-hACE2与Vero E6细胞中，绝大多数自噬与凋亡促进基因的表达水平显著上调。与之相反，与Mock处理的HEK293T-hACE2及Vero E6细胞相比，经SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒处理的细胞中，自噬与凋亡抑制基因的子集表达水平显著下调。同时，SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒感染可提升受染细胞中促炎细胞因子的表达水平。整体实验设计：对经SARS-CoV-2-S假病毒感染的HEK293T-hACE2与Vero E6细胞，以及经Mock处理的HEK293T-hACE2与Vero E6对照组细胞进行检测分析。