This pseudotyped virus uses recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (rVSV) to carry S protein of SARS-CoV (GenBank: AY278554.2) (2003 strain), with 28-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 ~100000-fold higher than uninfected control (cell alone as background). The neutralizing activity of control mAb and one published mAb called 80R was tested by using this pseudotyped virus.

As pseudovirus infectivity of rVSV without its original G is restricted to a single round of replication, the pseudotypes can 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.