Common laboratory mice are susceptible to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant

Laboratory mouse strains such as BALB/C are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, because viral spike protein cannot use mouse ACE2 receptor for cell entry. However, some variants obtain mutations in its spike gene, some of which confer to spike protein binding affinity for mouse ACE2. Nine to 14 weeks old male and female BALB/C mice have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351/Beta variant infection.The slight pathological modification in the infected lung were observed at the infection dose of 2 x 10^5 PFU/animal.