SARS-CoV-2 infection in the lungs of human ACE2 transgenic mice causes severe inflammation and immune cell infiltration, and compromised respiratory function

We evaluate heterozygous transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 receptor driven by the epithelial cell promoter cytokeratin-18 promoter (K18-hACE2) as a model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Intranasal inoculation of K18-hACE2 mice with SARS-CoV-2 results in high levels of infection in the lung parenchyma with spread to other organs. Eight-week-old mice of both sexes were infected with 2.5 x 10^4 PFU of SARS-CoV-2 via intranasally. Lung tissues from mice 2, 4, 7 days post-infection and mock-infected mice were used to extract total RNA for RNA-seq analysis.