Fig. 2: Enhanced replication of lineage 5 MERS-CoV isolates on cultured cells.

Cells were infected at MOI = 0.002 and virus progeny in cell culture supernatants was quantified by plaque assays. a Vero B4 cells, 24 and 48 hpi; b Calu-3 lung cells, 24 hpi; c Caco-2 colon cells, 24 hpi; d Calu-3 lung cells grown as air-liquid interface culture, 24 hpi. All infections were performed with several representative viral isolates per phylogenetic lineage as documented in Supplementary Table 1. Shown are in a the results of n = 2 independent experiments with n = 2 MERS-CoV isolates per lineage and biological triplicates. In b the results of n = 4 independent experiments overall including all 23 MERS-CoV isolates using biological duplicates. In c the results of n = 2 independent experiments with n = 2 MERS-CoV isolates per lineage and biological duplicates. In d the results of n = 2 independent experiments with n = 1 MERS-CoV isolate per lineage and biological triplicates.; Statistical significance in difference of PFU/ml between groups was determined by one-way ANOVA, followed by multiple two-tailed Student´s t-tests between lineage 5 and other lineages. PFU, plaque forming units; hpi, hours post infection.