Susceptibility of Well-Differentiated Airway Epithelial Cell Cultures from Domestic and Wild Animals to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally, and the number
of worldwide cases continues to rise. The zoonotic origins
of SARS-CoV-2 and its intermediate and potential
spillback host reservoirs, besides humans, remain
largely unknown. Because of ethical and experimental
constraints and more important, to reduce and refi ne
animal experimentation, we used our repository of welldiff
erentiated airway epithelial cell (AEC) cultures from
various domesticated and wildlife animal species to
assess their susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. We observed
that SARS-CoV-2 replicated effi ciently only in monkey
and cat AEC culture models. Whole-genome sequencing
of progeny viruses revealed no obvious signs of
nucleotide transitions required for SARS-CoV-2 to productively
infect monkey and cat AEC cultures. Our fi ndings,
together with previous reports of human-to-animal
spillover events, warrant close surveillance to determine
the potential role of cats, monkeys, and closely related
species as spillback reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2.