[Basic information of Coronavirus].

ABSTRACT

Coronaviruses are pathogens that infect many of animals, resulting in respiratory or enteric diseases. Coronaviruses constitute Nidovirales together with Arteriviridae. Most of human coronaviruses are known to cause mild illness and common cold. However, an epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in 2002, ten years after SARS epidemic Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) emerged in 2012. Now, we face on a novel coronavirus which emerges in end of 2019. This novel coronavirus is named as SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 is spread to worldwide within one to two months and causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), respiratory illness. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses possessing a positive-sense and large single stranded RNA genomes. The 5' two-thirds of the CoV genome consists of two overlapping open reading frames (ORFs 1a and 1b) that encode non-structural proteins (nsps). The other one-third of the genome consists of ORFs encoding structural proteins, including spike (S), membrane (M), envelope (E) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, and accessory proteins. Upon infection of CoV into host cells, the translation of two precursor polyproteins, pp1a and pp1ab, occurs and these polyproteins are cleaved into 16 nsps by viral proteases. Structural proteins assemble to the vesicles located from ER to Golgi (ER Golgiintermediate compartment) and virions bud into the vesicles. Virions are released from infectedcells via exocytosis.