This pseudotyped virus uses recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (rVSV) to carry spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (GenBank: MN908947) with multiple mutations identified in Beta variant: L18F, D80A, D215G, L242-244del, R246I, K417N, E484K, N501Y, D614G, and A701V. The spike protein has a 18-aa cytoplasmic tail truncation for optimal infection.

Infection of cells with this pseudotyped virus carrying luciferase reporter results in high level luciferase activity. See the titration result showing the undiluted pseudovirus generates signal ~10000-fold higher than uninfected control (cell alone as background). The neutralizing activity of two published control mAbs (Science, 2020: 369, p643) was tested by using this pseudotyped virus.

The pseudotypes should be handled using BSL-2 containment practices. Applications include Anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody screening at high throughput, Anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug screening at high throughput and SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus transduction of target cells for viral entry and functional studies.