RNA-seq of E protein stimulated monocytes
Monocytes were isolated from cryopreserved PBMC and plated as already described. On day 1, monocytes were given either PBS (control), 1 g/mL SARS-CoV-2 E protein (Novus Biologicals) and reincubated for 24 hours. On day 2, media was changed, and cells were reincubated until day 6 as described above. On day 6, monocytes were harvested and processed for RNA extraction using the RNeasy Micro Kit from (Qiagen, Germantown, MD, USA). RNA concentrations were determined using the Qubit RNA High Sensitivity kit on a Qubit fluorometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific). RNA libraries were prepared with the TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Library Prep Human/Mouse/Rat Kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Libraries were run on the Illumina Nova-Seq 6000 in the 2x151bp paired-end format