From genome to function: Phenotypic characterisation of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 variants

SARS-related coronaviruses have been known for several years to circulate in diverse bat species and they are known to have the potential to infect humans. The zoonotic emergence of SARS-CoV-2 exemplified that these viruses also have pandemic potential. Here I will show how we can reconstruct SARS-CoV-2 in order to obtain molecular clones for functional and phenotypic studies. Based on this novel reverse genetic system it is now possible to rapidly reconstruct SARS-CoV-2 and to phenotypically characterize SARS-CoV-2 variants that emerge during the pandemic in real-time.