Cell-to-cell and genome-to-genome variability of Adenovirus transcription tuned by the cell cycle

In clonal cultures, not all cells are equally susceptible to virus infection. Underlying mechanisms of infection variability are poorly understood. Here, we developed image-based single cell measurements to scrutinize the heterogeneity of adenovirus (AdV) infection. AdV delivers, transcribes and replicates a linear double-stranded DNA genome in the nucleus. We measured the abundance of viral transcripts by single-molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and the incoming ethynyl-deoxy-cytidine (EdC)-tagged viral genome by copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (click) reaction. The early transcripts increased from 2-12 hours, the late ones from 12-23 hours post infection (pi), indicating distinct accumulation kinetics. Surprisingly, the expression of the immediate early transactivator gene E1A only moderately correlated with the number of viral genomes in the cell nucleus, although the incoming viral DNA remained largely intact until 7 hours pi. Genome-to-genome heterogeneity was found at the level of viral transcription, as indicated by colocalization with the large intron containing early region E4 transcripts, uncorrelated to the multiplicity of incoming genomes in the nucleus. In accordance, individual genomes exhibited heterogeneous replication activity, as shown by single-strand DNA-FISH and immunocytochemistry. These results indicate that the variability in viral gene expression and replication are not due to defective genomes but due to host cell heterogeneity. By analyzing the cell cycle state, we found that G1 cells exhibited the highest E1A expression, and significantly increased the correlation between E1A expression and viral genome copy numbers. This combined image-based single molecule procedure is ideally suited to explore the cell-to-cell variability in viral infection, including transcriptional activators and repressors, RNA splicing mechanisms, and the impact of the 3-dimensional nuclear topology on gene regulation.