Single-Cell Reporter Dynamics During the First Two Rounds of Rhinovirus Plaque Growth.

Secondary infected cells show no consistent plaque-associated signatures beyond initial fluorescence detection, indicating limited lineage information after two rounds of rhinovirus growth.

• Why it matters: Understanding how infection spreads at the single-cell level can reveal insights into virus-host interactions and viral propagation mechanisms, but current methods struggle to detect subtle lineage signatures.
• What they did: The study tracked enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in 154 cells across eight rhinovirus plaques, applying various analytical methods to compare reporter trajectories and identify plaque-related features.
• The result: Findings show that cell heterogeneity surpasses plaque-specific signals after two infection rounds, providing a framework for future studies to explore subtle lineage effects and improve single-cell infection analysis.