SARS-CoV-2 Receptor ACE2 Is an Interferon-Stimulated Gene in Human Airway Epithelial Cells and Is Detected in Specific Cell Subsets across Tissues.
Carly G K Ziegler, Samuel J Allon, Sarah K Nyquist, Ian M Mbano, Vincent N Miao, Constantine N Tzouanas, Yuming Cao, Ashraf S Yousif, Julia Bals, Blake M Hauser, Jared Feldman, Christoph Muus, Marc H Wadsworth, Samuel W Kazer, Travis K Hughes, Benjamin Doran, G James Gatter, Marko Vukovic, Faith Taliaferro, Benjamin E Mead, Zhiru Guo, Jennifer P Wang, Delphine Gras, Magali Plaisant, Meshal Ansari, Ilias Angelidis, Heiko Adler, Jennifer M S Sucre, Chase J Taylor, Brian Lin, Avinash Waghray, Vanessa Mitsialis, Daniel F Dwyer, Kathleen M Buchheit, Joshua A Boyce, Nora A Barrett, Tanya M Laidlaw, Shaina L Carroll, Lucrezia Colonna, Victor Tkachev, Christopher W Peterson, Alison Yu, Hengqi Betty Zheng, Hannah P Gideon, Caylin G Winchell, Philana Ling Lin, Colin D Bingle, Scott B Snapper, Jonathan A Kropski, Fabian J Theis, Herbert B Schiller, Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi, Pascal Barbry, Alasdair Leslie, Hans-Peter Kiem, JoAnne L Flynn, Sarah M Fortune, Bonnie Berger, Robert W Finberg, Leslie S Kean, Manuel Garber, Aaron G Schmidt, Daniel Lingwood, Alex K Shalek, Jose Ordovas-Montanes, HCA Lung Biological Network. Electronic address: lung-network@humancellatlas.org, HCA Lung Biological Network
Author Information
Carly G K Ziegler: Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Harvard Graduate Program in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Samuel J Allon: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Sarah K Nyquist: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Program in Computational & Systems Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Ian M Mbano: Africa Health Research Institute, Durban, South Africa; School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Vincent N Miao: Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Constantine N Tzouanas: Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Yuming Cao: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Ashraf S Yousif: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Julia Bals: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Blake M Hauser: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Jared Feldman: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Program in Virology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Christoph Muus: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; John A. Paulson School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Marc H Wadsworth: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Samuel W Kazer: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Travis K Hughes: Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Program in Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Benjamin Doran: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
G James Gatter: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Marko Vukovic: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Faith Taliaferro: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Benjamin E Mead: Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Zhiru Guo: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Jennifer P Wang: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Delphine Gras: Aix-Marseille University, INSERM, INRA, C2VN, Marseille, France.
Magali Plaisant: Universit�� C��te d'Azur, CNRS, IPMC, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
Meshal Ansari: Comprehensive Pneumology Center & Institute of Lung Biology and Disease, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany; German Center for Lung Research, Munich, Germany; Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany.
Ilias Angelidis: Comprehensive Pneumology Center & Institute of Lung Biology and Disease, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany; German Center for Lung Research, Munich, Germany.
Heiko Adler: German Center for Lung Research, Munich, Germany; Research Unit Lung Repair and Regeneration, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany.
Jennifer M S Sucre: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
Chase J Taylor: Divison of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
Brian Lin: Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Avinash Waghray: Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Vanessa Mitsialis: Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Daniel F Dwyer: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Kathleen M Buchheit: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Joshua A Boyce: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Nora A Barrett: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Tanya M Laidlaw: Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Shaina L Carroll: University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Lucrezia Colonna: University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Victor Tkachev: Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Christopher W Peterson: Stem Cell & Gene Therapy Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Alison Yu: Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98145, USA.
Hengqi Betty Zheng: University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98145, USA.
Hannah P Gideon: Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA; Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Caylin G Winchell: Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA; Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA; Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Philana Ling Lin: Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA; UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA.
Colin D Bingle: Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease, The Medical School and The Florey Institute for Host Pathogen Interactions, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.
Scott B Snapper: Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Jonathan A Kropski: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37240, USA; Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37212, USA.
Fabian J Theis: Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany.
Herbert B Schiller: Comprehensive Pneumology Center & Institute of Lung Biology and Disease, Helmholtz Zentrum M��nchen, Munich, Germany; German Center for Lung Research, Munich, Germany.
Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi: Universit�� C��te d'Azur, CNRS, IPMC, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
Pascal Barbry: Universit�� C��te d'Azur, CNRS, IPMC, Sophia-Antipolis, France.
Alasdair Leslie: Africa Health Research Institute, Durban, South Africa; School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa; Department of Infection & Immunity, University College London, London, UK.
Hans-Peter Kiem: Stem Cell & Gene Therapy Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
JoAnne L Flynn: Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA; Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Sarah M Fortune: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Bonnie Berger: Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Robert W Finberg: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Leslie S Kean: Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Manuel Garber: University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
Aaron G Schmidt: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Daniel Lingwood: Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Alex K Shalek: Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Harvard Graduate Program in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Program in Computational & Systems Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Program in Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: shalek@mit.edu.
Jose Ordovas-Montanes: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Program in Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: jose.ordovas-montanes@childrens.harvard.edu.
There is pressing urgency to understand the pathogenesis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus clade 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the disease COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein binds angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and in concert with host proteases, principally transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), promotes cellular entry. The cell subsets targeted by SARS-CoV-2 in host tissues and the factors that regulate ACE2 expression remain unknown. Here, we leverage human, non-human primate, and mouse single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets across health and disease to uncover putative targets of SARS-CoV-2 among tissue-resident cell subsets. We identify ACE2 and TMPRSS2 co-expressing cells within lung type II pneumocytes, ileal absorptive enterocytes, and nasal goblet secretory cells. Strikingly, we discovered that ACE2 is a human interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) in vitro using airway epithelial cells and extend our findings to in vivo viral infections. Our data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 could exploit species-specific interferon-driven upregulation of ACE2, a tissue-protective mediator during lung injury, to enhance infection.