Fig. 4

Cholesterol drives the cluster formation of spike¹²⁶⁸ protein. a Reconstructed SIM images illustrating cholesterol-modulated spatial distribution of spike¹²⁶⁸ clusters. Among the groups, the +MβCD + MβCD-CHO group involved pre-treating cells with MβCD to deplete membrane cholesterol, followed by the addition of MβCD-CHO to rescue the cell membrane cholesterol. Scale bars, 5μm. Scale bar applies to all images in this panel. b Box plots and data points show the counts of clusters per μm² for the spike¹²⁶⁸ protein corresponding to panel (a) from N ≥ 3 independent replicates. c Box plots and data points show the size of clusters (Feret’s diameter) corresponding to panel (a) from N ≥ 3 independent replicates. Cluster quantification and diameter measurements were performed using NIS-Elements software, with ≥20 randomly selected cells in each group. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test