tRNA abundance, modification and fragmentation as biomarkers for COVID-19 severity

Respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are pathogens that can reach pandemic proportions. The early human response to respiratory viruses are in the nasal cavity and nasopharyngeal regions. Defining biomarkers of disease trajectory at the time of a positive test is important for opting for treatment and monitoring decisions. We hypothesize that the nasopharyngeal tRNA profiles can be used to predict symptom severity resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection. We carried out multiplex small RNA sequencing (MSR-seq) on nasopharyngeal swaps to measure the human tRNA response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our result simultaneously measured full-length tRNA abundance, tRNA modifications, and tRNA fragmentation among individuals that went on to develop no/mild or severe symptoms. We identified distinct tRNA signatures that can predict the clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infected individual at the time of a positive test. These results highlight the utility of using host tRNA properties as biomarkers for clinical applications. Healthy, Influenza, and Covid Samples