TY - JOUR T1 - Direct visualization of native infectious SARS-CoV-2 and its inactivation forms using high resolution Atomic Force Microscopy JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.10.23.351916 SP - 2020.10.23.351916 AU - Sébastien Lyonnais AU - Mathilde Hénaut AU - Aymeric Neyret AU - Peggy Merida AU - Chantal Cazevieille AU - Nathalie Gros AU - Christine Chable-Bessia AU - Delphine Muriaux Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/26/2020.10.23.351916.abstract N2 - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for COVID19, a new emerging pandemic affecting humans. Here, single viruses were analyze by atomic force microscopy (AFM) operating directly in a level 3 biosafety (BSL3) facility, which appeared as a fast and powerful method to assess infectious virus morphology in its native conformation, or upon inactivation treatments, at the nanoscale level and in 3D. High resolution AFM reveals structurally intact infectious and inactivated SARS-CoV-2 upon low concentration of formaldehyde treatment. This protocol allows the preparation of intact inactivated SARS-CoV-2 particles for safe use of samples out of level 3 laboratory, as revealed by combining AFM and plaque assays, to accelerate researches against the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we illustrate how adapted BSL3-atomic force microscopy is a remarkable toolbox for rapid and direct virus identification and characterization.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -