Fig. 2

Antiviral role of Dicer in SARS-CoV-2-infected TBLU-ACE2 cells. A Quantification of Dicer expression in control and DKD cells by qRT-PCR. Control showed a significantly higher value compared to DKD (P-value = 0.002, t-test), B Bar graph depicting SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein expression in control and DKD cells. In both bar graphs, the different letters denote significance determined by Tukey ANOVA (p ≤ 0.05) C–F Sushi plots illustrating the mapping of sense (blue) and antisense (red) small RNA sequencing reads to the SARS-CoV-2 genome in control and DKD cells. Major genomic features of the genome are underneath as colored bars. C-D Mapping of 17–19 nt reads is measured, and in (E–F) 20–24 nt reads. G–H Heatmap representing overlapping pairs of reads based on mapping to the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The size of the reads that form pairs are shown at the bottom and right of each heatmap. The red box highlights the sizes of RNAs expected for Dicer products