Single-Virus Fusion Measurements Reveal Multiple Mechanistically Equivalent Pathways for SARS-CoV-2 Entry

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 can use multiple pathways to infect cells, as demonstrated recently when new viral variants switched dominant infection pathways. Here, we used single-virus fusion experiments together with biochemical reconstitution to show that these multiple pathways coexist simultaneously and specifically that the virus can be activated by different proteases in different cellular compartments with mechanistically identical effects.