Fig. 5: Phenotypic Characterization of Omicron Sublineages in Complex Models of the conducting airways.

Primary human nasal (a-d, i, k) and bronchial (e-h, j-k) ALI cultures were infected with SARS-CoV-2 D614G and selected SARS-CoV-2 sublineages (BA.2, BQ.1.1, XBB.1.5, or XBB.1.9.2) at MOI 0.1. Experiments were conducted for three donors in technical duplicates. a, e Progeny viruses were collected by washes from the apical compartment at indicated time points and titrated using standard plaque assay on Vero E6 cells. Replication analyses are presented as mean ± SEM. b, f Heatmap represents viral titers from replication analyses (a) or (e) at corresponding time points. c, g Increase of viral titers during the early infection phase was calculated using linear regression between the two initial data points (0 and 16 h p.i.) from replication analyses (a) or (e). Data are shown as boxplots (min to max; box extends from the 25th to the 75th percentile, center line represents median). d, h Area under the curves (AUCs) were calculated from replication analyses shown in panels a and e, respectively, with data represented as mean ± SEM. For determination of immune activation, basolateral fluids were collected from nasal (i) or bronchial (j) ALI cultures at indicated time points and used for detection of type I and III IFN via ELISA. The limit of detection is marked by the dotted line. a–f Statistical analyses were performed using non-paired, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, with *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Statistical significance in (b) and (f) is displayed in comparison to SARS-CoV-2 D614G (*) or XBB.1.9.2 (O), and in (i) and (j) relative to mock infection.