3. • Genus of the Coronaviridae family .
•Positive-strand RNA viruses.
•The largest viral genome of all RNA viruses (27–32 kb).
•The genomic RNA is capped, polyadenylated and covered with nucleocapsid
proteins.
•Enveloped and carries large spike glycoproteins(seems like crown).
•The structural gene region, which covers the 3 part of the genome, encodes the
canonical set of structural protein genes in the order 5 - spike (S) - envelope (E) -
membrane (M) and nucleocapsid (N) – 3.
•The structural proteins are translated from subgenomic mRNAs. These
subgenomic mRNAs are the result of discontinuous transcription, a hallmark of
CoV gene expression.