{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T08:59:41Z","timestamp":1789808381246,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1636588800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Small animal models are of crucial importance for assessing COVID-19 countermeasures. Common laboratory mice would be well-suited for this purpose but are not susceptible to infection with wild-type SARS-CoV-2. However, the development of mouse-adapted virus strains has revealed key mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that increase infectivity, and interestingly, many of these mutations are also present in naturally occurring SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. This suggests that these variants might have the ability to infect common laboratory mice. Herein we show that the SARS-CoV-2 beta variant attains infectibility to BALB\/c mice and causes pulmonary changes within 2\u20133 days post infection, consistent with results seen in other murine models of COVID-19, at a reasonable virus dose (2 \u00d7 105 PFU). The findings suggest that common laboratory mice can serve as the animal model of choice for testing the effectiveness of antiviral drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v13112263","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T23:07:21Z","timestamp":1636672041000},"page":"2263","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Common Laboratory Mice Are Susceptible to Infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta Variant"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3878-9775","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ravi","family":"Kant","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"},{"name":"Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2525-7817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lauri","family":"Kareinen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"},{"name":"Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Teemu","family":"Smura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tobias L.","family":"Freitag","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Programs Unit, Immunobiology, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1898-4928","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sawan Kumar","family":"Jha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cancer Medicine Program, Faculty of Medicine and Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kari","family":"Alitalo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Translational Cancer Medicine Program, Faculty of Medicine and Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9142-501X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Seppo","family":"Meri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bacteriology and Immunology and Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2344-2755","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tarja","family":"Sironen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"},{"name":"Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kalle","family":"Saksela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2454-7479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tomas","family":"Strandin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoonosis Unit, Department of Virology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, 00290 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Finland"},{"name":"Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland"},{"name":"HUS Diagnostic Center, HUSLAB, Clinical Microbiology, Helsinki University Hospital, 00290 Helsinki, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Virtanen, J., Uusitalo, R., Korhonen, E., Aaltonen, K., Smura, T., Kuivanen, S., Pakkanen, S., Mero, S., Patjas, A., and Riekkinen, M. 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