! Reverse-transcribed SARS-CoV-2 RNA can integrate into the genome of cultured human cells and can be expressed in patient-derived tissues PNAS
An unresolved issue of SARS-CoV-2 disease is that patients often remain positive for viral RNA as detected by PCR many weeks after the initial infection in the absence of evidence for viral replication. We show here that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be reverse-transcribed and integrated into the genome of the infected cell and be expressed as chimeric transcripts fusing viral with cellular sequences. Importantly, such chimeric transcripts are detected in patient-derived tissues. Our data suggest that, in some patient tissues, the majority of all viral transcripts are derived from integrated sequences. Our data provide an insight into the consequence of SARS-CoV-2 infections that may help to explain why patients can continue to produce viral RNA after recovery. All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and supporting information. All sequencing data generated in this study have been deposited to the Sequence Read Archive, (accession no. [PRJNA721333][1]). All published data analyzed in this study are cited in this article with accession methods provided in [ Materials and Methods ][2]. July 14, 2021: The SI appendix has been updated. [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA721333 [2]: #sec-5
