Fig. 5

Hit identification strategy. (A) The entire miRNA mimic and inhibitor screens were ranked using a robust Z-score as illustrated in a waterfall plot from lowest (decreased virus infection) to highest (increased virus infection). Dotted horizontal lines represent the threshold of hit identification (Z ≥ 2 or ≤ −2). The number of miRNA hits above this threshold is shown for miRNAs that resulted in increased (red dots) or decreased (blue dots) SARS-CoV-2 infection. (B) The hit selection strategy involved four steps that iteratively refine the number of targets: (1) miRNAs were selected based on % cells infected (Z ≥ 2 or ≤ −2), (2) miRNAs which did not meet a minimum level of cell viability (FC ≥ 0.5) were removed, (3) miRNAs which resulted in extreme impacts to cell cycle phases G_0/G₁, S or G₂/M (Z ≥ 5 or ≤ −5) were removed, (4) only miRNAs that had opposing effects between the mimic and inhibitor were retained. This final hit list was then subjected to morphology analysis (outlined in Fig. 6). (C) The final 33 miRNAs are represented by robust Z-scores showing the opposing outcomes for increased and decreased infection.