Dual spatially resolved transcriptomics for SARS-CoV-2 host-pathogen colocalization studies in humans

To advance our understanding of cellular host-pathogen interactions, technologies that facilitate the co-capture of both host and pathogen spatial transcriptome information are needed. Here, we present an approach to simultaneously capture host and pathogen spatial gene expression information from the same formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue section using the spatial transcriptomics technology. We applied the method to COVID-19 patient lung samples and enabled the dual detection of human and SARS-CoV-2 transcriptomes at 55 μm resolution. We validated our spatial detection of SARS-CoV-2 and identified an average specificity of 94.92% in comparison to RNAScope and 82.20% in comparison to in situ sequencing (ISS). COVID-19 tissues showed an upregulation of host immune response, such as increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, lymphocyte and fibroblast markers. Our colocalization analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 + spots presented shifts in host RNA metabolism, autophagy, NFκB, and interferon response pathways. Future applications of our approach will enable new insights into host response to pathogen infection through the simultaneous, unbiased detection of two transcriptomes. ### Competing Interest Statement H.S., Y.M., S.G. are scientific advisors to 10x Genomics, Inc. that holds IP rights to the ST technology and previously acquired ReadCoor and Cartana and their accompanying intellectual property rights. S.G. holds 10x Genomics stocks. H.S., Y.M., E.B., A.H. and S.G. are co-inventors on patent filings relating to this work. E.B., A.H., A.J. and A.N. are employees of 10x Genomics and hold stock options. All other authors declare no competing interests.