This isolate induced elevated type I IFN responses in HEK293T-hACE2 cells, including high levels of the toll-like receptor 7 sensor (TLR7), signal transducers (MYD88, OAS2), transcriptional regulators (IRF3, IRF5), and restriction factors (GBP1, IFITM3, MX1), as compared to infection with the WT virus (Nemudryi et al., 2021). This evidence concerns the gene OAS2 and infection.