Host Factors for Viral Entry 

Spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 interacts with the ACE2 receptor on the host cell to initiate viral entry, but other host factors are also involved. While ACE2 is necessary, it does not appear to be sufficient for infection. Host cell factors that are reported to work with ACE2 in SARS-COV-2 entry are now available in BacMam vectors. BacMam is a BSL-1 baculovirus that provides safe, efficient and controllable delivery to practically any cell type. Combine with Pseudo SARS-CoV-2 for COVID19  investigation and discovery.

• ACE2 – A green or red fluorescent ACE2 that expresses at the plasma membrane (unlabeled ACE2 BacMam also available). ACE2 on the membrane interacts with the Spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 or Pseudo SARS-CoV-2 to initiate cell entry.
• TMPRSS2 – is a host serine protease that cleaves the SARS CoV-2 Spike (S) protein to facilitate entry.
• Neuropilin-1 – Two recent papers present evidence that SARS-CoV-2 interacts with Neuropilin to enter the cell (Cantuti-Castelvetri et al. 2020; Daly et al. 2020). (Both Red Fluorescent Neuropilin-1 and Unlabeled Neuropilin-1 kits are available.)
• Cathepsin-L is a pH dependent, lysosomal cysteine protease that can facilitate pseudovirus entry in HEK293 cells (Ou et al. 2020).

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Cantuti-Castelvetri, Ludovico, Ravi Ojha, Liliana D. Pedro, Minou Djannatian, Jonas Franz, Suvi Kuivanen, Katri Kallio, et al. 2020. “Neuropilin-1 Facilitates SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry and Provides a Possible Pathway into the Central Nervous System.” https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.07.137802.
Daly, James L., Boris Simonetti, Carlos Anton Plagaro, Maia Kavanagh Williamson, Deborah K. Shoemark, Lorena Simon-Gracia, Katja Klein, et al. 2020. “Neuropilin-1 Is a Host Factor for SARS-CoV-2 Infection.” bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.05.134114.

Ou, Xiuyuan, Yan Liu, Xiaobo Lei, Pei Li, Dan Mi, Lili Ren, Li Guo, et al. 2020. “Characterization of Spike Glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 on Virus Entry and Its Immune Cross-Reactivity with SARS-CoV.” Nature Communications 11 (1): 1620.