Graphical Abstract Highlights d SARS-CoV-2-infected ferrets exhibit elevated body temperature and virus replication d SARS-CoV-2 is shed in nasal washes, saliva, urine and feces d SARS-CoV-2 is effectively transmitted to naive ferrets by direct contact d SARS-CoV-2 infection leads acute bronchiolitis in infected ferrets

As part of our search for botanical sources of SARS-CoV 3CL(pro) inhibitors, we selected Torreya nucifera, which is traditionally used as a medicinal plant in Asia. The ethanol extract of T. nucifera leaves exhibited good SARS-CoV 3CL(pro) inhibitory activity (62% at 100μg/mL). Following bioactivity-guided fractionation, eight diterpenoids (1-8) and four biflavonoids (9-12) were isolated and evaluated for SARS-CoV 3CL(pro) inhibition using fluorescence resonance energy transfer analysis. Of these compounds, the biflavone amentoflavone (9) (IC(50)=8.3μM) showed most potent 3CL(pro) inhibitory effect. Three additional authentic flavones (apigenin, luteolin and quercetin) were tested to establish the basic structure-activity relationship of biflavones. Apigenin, luteolin, and quercetin inhibited 3CL(pro) activity with IC(50) values of 280.8, 20.2, and 23.8μM, respectively. Values of binding energy obtained in a molecular docking study supported the results of enzymatic assays. More potent activity appeared to be associated with the presence of an apigenin moiety at position C-3' of flavones, as biflavone had an effect on 3CL(pro) inhibitory activity.

Vaccines and therapeutics are urgently needed for the pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here, we screen human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the viral spike protein via antibody library constructed from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a convalescent patient. The CT-P59 mAb potently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 isolates including the D614G variant without antibody-dependent enhancement effect. Complex crystal structure of CT-P59 Fab/RBD shows that CT-P59 blocks interaction regions of RBD for angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor with an orientation that is notably different from previously reported RBD-targeting mAbs. Furthermore, therapeutic effects of CT-P59 are evaluated in three animal models (ferret, hamster, and rhesus monkey), demonstrating a substantial reduction in viral titer along with alleviation of clinical symptoms. Therefore, CT-P59 may be a promising therapeutic candidate for COVID-19.

Objectives The aim was to determine whether various clinical specimens obtained from COVID-19 patients contain the infectious virus. Methods To demonstrate whether various clinical specimens contain the viable virus, we collected naso/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva, urine and stool samples from five COVID-19 patients and performed a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to assess viral load. Specimens positive with qPCR were subjected to virus isolation in Vero cells. We also used urine and stool samples to intranasally inoculate ferrets and evaluated the virus titres in nasal washes on 2, 4, 6 and 8 days post infection. Results SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in all naso/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva, urine and stool samples collected between days 8 and 30 of the clinical course. Notably, viral loads in urine, saliva and stool samples were almost equal to or higher than those in naso/oropharyngeal swabs (urine 1.08 ± 0.16–2.09 ± 0.85 log 10 copies/mL, saliva 1.07 ± 0.34–1.65 ± 0.46 log 10 copies/mL, stool 1.17 ± 0.32 log 10 copies/mL, naso/oropharyngeal swabs 1.18 ± 0.12–1.34 ± 0.30 log 10 copies/mL). Further, viable SARS-CoV-2 was isolated from naso/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva of COVID-19 patients, as well as nasal washes of ferrets inoculated with patient urine or stool. Discussion Viable SARS-CoV-2 was demonstrated in saliva, urine and stool samples from COVID-19 patients up to days 11–15 of the clinical course. This result suggests that viable SARS-CoV-2 can be secreted in various clinical samples and respiratory specimens.

In the search for anti-SARS-CoV, tanshinones derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza were found to be specific and selective inhibitors for the SARS-CoV 3CL(pro) and PL(pro), viral cysteine proteases. A literature search for studies involving the seven isolated tanshinone hits showed that at present, none have been identified as coronaviral protease inhibitors. We have identified that all of the isolated tanshinones are good inhibitors of both cysteine proteases. However, their activity was slightly affected by subtle changes in structure and targeting enzymes. All isolated compounds (1-7) act as time dependent inhibitors of PL(pro), but no improved inhibition was observed following preincubation with the 3CL(pro). In a detail kinetic mechanism study, all of the tanshinones except rosmariquinone (7) were identified as noncompetitive enzyme isomerization inhibitors. However, rosmariquinone (7) showed a different kinetic mechanism through mixed-type simple reversible slow-binding inhibition. Furthermore, tanshinone I (5) exhibited the most potent nanomolar level inhibitory activity toward deubiquitinating (IC(50)=0.7 μM). Additionally, the inhibition is selective because these compounds do not exert significant inhibitory effects against other proteases including chymotrysin, papain, and HIV protease. These findings provide potential inhibitors for SARS-CoV viral infection and replication.

Due to the urgent need of a therapeutic treatment for coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, a number of FDA-approved/repurposed drugs have been suggested as antiviral candidates at clinics, without sufficient information. Furthermore, there have been extensive debates over antiviral candidates for their effectiveness and safety against severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV 2 (SARS-CoV-2), suggesting that rapid preclinical animal studies are required to identify potential antiviral candidates for human trials. To this end, the antiviral efficacies of lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, and emtricitabine-tenofovir for SARS-CoV-2 infection were assessed in the ferret infection model. While the lopinavir-ritonavir-, hydroxychloroquine sulfate-, or emtricitabine-tenofovir-treated group exhibited lower overall clinical scores than the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-treated control group, the virus titers in nasal washes, stool specimens, and respiratory tissues were similar between all three antiviral-candidate-treated groups and the PBS-treated control group. Only the emtricitabine-tenofovir-treated group showed lower virus titers in nasal washes at 8 days postinfection (dpi) than the PBS-treated control group. To further explore the effect of immune suppression on viral infection and clinical outcome, ferrets were treated with azathioprine, an immunosuppressive drug. Compared to the PBS-treated control group, azathioprine-immunosuppressed ferrets exhibited a longer period of clinical illness, higher virus titers in nasal turbinate, delayed virus clearance, and significantly lower serum neutralization (SN) antibody titers. Taken together, all antiviral drugs tested marginally reduced the overall clinical scores of infected ferrets but did not significantly affect in vivo virus titers. Despite the potential discrepancy of drug efficacies between animals and humans, these preclinical ferret data should be highly informative to future therapeutic treatment of COVID-19 patients. IMPORTANCE The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, with rapidly increasing numbers of mortalities, placing increasing strain on health care systems. Despite serious public health concerns, no effective vaccines or therapeutics have been approved by regulatory agencies. In this study, we tested the FDA-approved drugs lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, and emtricitabine-tenofovir against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a highly susceptible ferret infection model. While most of the drug treatments marginally reduced clinical symptoms, they did not reduce virus titers, with the exception of emtricitabine-tenofovir treatment, which led to diminished virus titers in nasal washes at 8 dpi. Further, the azathioprine-treated immunosuppressed ferrets showed delayed virus clearance and low SN titers, resulting in a prolonged infection. As several FDA-approved or repurposed drugs are being tested as antiviral candidates at clinics without sufficient information, rapid preclinical animal studies should proceed to identify therapeutic drug candidates with strong antiviral potential and high safety prior to a human efficacy trial.

Plant leaves, harvesting light energy and fixing CO 2 , are a major source of foods on the earth. Leaves undergo developmental and physiological shifts during their lifespan, ending with senescence and death. We characterized the key regulatory features of the leaf transcriptome during aging by analyzing total-and small-RNA transcriptomes throughout the lifespan of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves at multidimensions, including age, RNA-type, and organelle. Intriguingly, senescing leaves showed more coordinated temporal changes in transcriptomes than growing leaves, with sophisticated regulatory networks comprising transcription factors and diverse small regulatory RNAs. The chloroplast transcriptome, but not the mitochondrial transcriptome, showed major changes during leaf aging, with a strongly shared expression pattern of nuclear transcripts encoding chloroplast-targeted proteins. Thus, unlike animal aging, leaf senescence proceeds with tight temporal and distinct interorganellar coordination of various transcriptomes that would be critical for the highly regulated degeneration and nutrient recycling contributing to plant fitness and productivity.Most organisms undergo age-dependent developmental changes during their lifespans. The timely decision of developmental changes during the lifespan is a critical evolutionary characteristic that maximizes fitness in a given ecological setting (Leopold, 1961;Fenner, 1998;Samach and Coupland, 2000). Plants use unique developmental strategies throughout their lifespans as opposed to animals. In plants, most organs are formed postnatally from sets of stem cells in the seed. In addition, plants are sessile and cope with encountering environments physiologically, rather than behaviorally. Thus, they have developed highly plastic and interactive developmental programs to incorporate environmental changes into their developmental decisions (Pigliucci, 1998;Sultan, 2000).The leaf is an organ that characterizes the fundamental aspects of plants. Leaves harvest light energy, fix CO 2 to produce carbohydrates, and, as primary producers in our ecosystem, serve as a major food source on the earth. Leaves undergo a series of developmental and physiological shifts during their lifespans. A leaf is initially formed as a leaf primordium derived from the stem cells at the shoot apical meristem and develops into a photosynthetic organ through biogenesis processes involving cell division, differentiation, and expansion (Tsukaya, 2013). In the later stages of their lifespans, leaves undergo organ-level senescence and eventually death. Organlevel senescence in plants involves postmitotic senescence and is a term used similarly as "aging" in animals. During the senescence stage, leaf cells undergo dramatic shifts in physiology from biogenesis to the sequential 1 This research was supported by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R013-D1 and IBS-R013-G1), the DGIST R&D Program (2014010043, 2015010004, 2015010011, 20150100012, and 15-01-HRLA-01), Basic Science Research Program (2010-0...

Uncontrolled oxidative stress impairs bone formation and induces age-related bone loss in humans. The FoxO family is widely accepted to play an important role in protecting diverse cells from reactive oxygen species (ROS). Activation of FoxO1, the main FoxO in bone, stimulates proliferation and differentiation as well as inhibits apoptosis of osteoblast lineage cells. Despite the important role of FoxO1, little is known about how FoxO1 expression in bone is regulated. Meanwhile, several recent studies reported that microRNAs (miRNAs) could play a role in osteoblast differentiation and bone formation by targeting various transcriptional factors. Here, we identified one additional crucial miRNA, miR-182, which regulates osteoblastogenesis by repressing FoxO1 and thereby negatively affecting osteogenesis. Overexpression of miR-182 in osteoblast lineage cells increased cell apoptosis and inhibited osteoblast differentiation, whereas in vivo overexpression of miR-182 in zebrafish impaired bone formation. From in silico analysis and validation experiments, FoxO1 was identified as the target of miR-182, and restoration of FoxO1 expression in miR-182-overexpressing osteoblasts rescued them from the inhibitory effects of miR-182. These results indicate that miR-182 functions as a FoxO1 inhibitor to antagonize osteoblast proliferation and differentiation, with a subsequent negative effect on osteogenesis. To treat bone aging, an antisense approach targeting miR-182 could be of therapeutic value. ß