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. 2020 Nov;132(21-22):635-644.
doi: 10.1007/s00508-020-01763-1. Epub 2020 Oct 30.

Profile of SARS-CoV-2

Franz X Heinz  1 , Karin Stiasny  2
Affiliations

Profile of SARS-CoV-2

Franz X Heinz et al. Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

The recent emergence of a new coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‑2, SARS-CoV-2) that is transmitted efficiently among humans and can result in serious disease and/or death has become a global threat to public health and economy. In this article, we describe some of the most important characteristics of this new virus (including gaps in our understanding) and provide a perspective of ongoing activities for developing virus-specific countermeasures, such as vaccines and antiviral drugs.

Keywords: Antivirals; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Origin and evolution; Vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

F.X. Heinz and K. Stiasny declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dendrogram of coronaviruses assigned to the four genera of alphacoronaviruses, betacoronaviruses, gammacoronaviruses, and deltacoronaviruses (based on percentage amino acid sequence identity in the spike protein S). In betacoronaviruses, genetic lineages are indicated. HKU11 and IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) designate avian coronaviruses. MERS-CoV Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Genome organization of coronaviruses. Top panel: overall arrangement of nonstructural and structural genes. Lower panel: zoom of structural gene region, with accessory genes in red, as described by Xie et al. [94] for SARS-CoV‑2 and Forni et al. [2] for SARS-CoV‑1 as well as HCoV-NL63 [2]. ORF open reading frame. Designations of structural genes: S spike; E envelope; M membrane; N nucleocapsid
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Structural organization of coronavirus particle and the spike protein S. a Schematic of virus particle. b Ribbon diagrams of the soluble S protein trimer. The three monomers are colored in red, gold, and grey. In the closed state, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) is in the ‘down’ conformation (protein data bank: PDB 6ZGI, [95]), and in the open state in the ‘up’ conformation (protein data bank: PDB 6ZGG, [95]), which can interact with the viral receptor ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2). The interaction site is indicated by a blue ellipse in the right panel
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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