Human coronavirus NL63 employs the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus receptor for cellular entry

Coronavirus (CoV) infection of humans is usually not associated with severe disease. However, discovery of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV revealed that highly pathogenic human CoVs (HCoVs) can evolve. The identification and characterization of new HCoVs is, therefore, an important task. Recently, a HCoV termed NL63 was discovered in patients with respiratory tract illness. Here, cell tropism and receptor usage of HCoV-NL63 were analyzed. The NL63 spike (S) protein mediated infection of different target cells compared with the closely related 229E-S protein but facilitated entry into cells known to be permissive to SARS-CoV-S-driven infection. An analysis of receptor engagement revealed that…