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. 2020 Sep 8;28(22):115745. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2020.115745

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

A. Schematic representation of the HCoVs viral structure and genome organization. HCoVs are spherical viruses, with oligomeric Spike proteins (S) that protrude on their surface, and interact with the cell receptors. The surface has also the lipid bilayer from the host cell with the membrane (M), the envelope (E) proteins, and the (+) ssRNA packed with the nucleocapsid protein (N) on a helical shape. B. Organization of the SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 genome. The HCoVs genome is a (+) ssRNA of ~30 kb encoding non- and structural proteins. The 5′ end encodes the ORFs 1a and 1b giving rise to the pp1a and pp1ab, which is cleaved into non-structural proteins. The 3′ end encodes the structural proteins that will be assembled into the viral particle. The figure shows a schematic representation of the SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 genome, with an emphasis on structural and accessory proteins, highlighting the similarities and differences among them. Figure based on complete genome sequences from Genbank: AY274119.3, NC_019843.3, and NC_045512.2.