SARS-CoV-2: a new dimension to our understanding of coronaviruses

Abstract

Coronaviruses have marked their significant emergence since the twenty-first century with the outbreaks of three out of the seven existing human coronaviruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019. These viruses have not only acquired large-scale transmission during their specified outbreak period, but cases of MERS-CoV still remain active, although there is only limited transmission. While, on the other hand, SARS-CoV-2 continues to remain a rising threat to global public health. The recent novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), emerged during December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has repeatedly raised questions about its characteristic variability. Despite belonging to the same family, SARS-CoV-2 has proven to be quite difficult to control and contain in terms of transmissibility, leading to around 19.8 million reported cases and more than 730,000 deaths of individuals worldwide. Here, we discuss how SARS-CoV-2 differs from its two other related human coronaviruses in terms of genome composition, site of infection, and transmissibility, among several other notable aspects-all indicating to the possibility that it is these variations in addition to other unknowns that are contributing to this virus' differing deadly pattern.

Hígado y SARS-CoV-2: aspectos claves de la literatura

“…Los coronavirus pertenecen al género Betacoronavirus, de la subfamilia Coronavirinae, que a su vez pertenece a la familia Coronaviridae. El SARS-CoV-2 es un virus de ácido ribonucleico (ARN) monocatenario positivo y el tamaño de su genoma es de aproximadamente 29,9 kb y de diámetro es de 65-125 nm (3)(4)(5) . El SARS-CoV-2 comparte la secuencia genética con el SARS-CoV en un 79 % y con el MERS-CoV en un 50 % (6) .…”

“…El genoma del SARS-CoV-2 comprende 14 marcos abiertos de lectura (ORF), dos tercios de los cuales codifican 16 proteínas no estructurales (NSP; 1-16) y el tercio restante codifica 9 proteínas accesorias y 4 proteínas estructurales: pico (S), envoltura (E), membrana (M) y nucleocápside (N) (3,5,6) . La proteína M determina la forma del virus, la proteína E juega un papel en el ensamblaje y liberación del virus en la célula huésped y la proteína N mantiene la estabilidad del genoma viral (7) .…”

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Detection by Rapid Antigen and by Three Commercial RT-qPCR Tests: A Study from Martin University Hospital in Slovakia

“…Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) belongs to the family Coronaviridae , genus Betacoronavirus and subgenus Sarbecoviruses [ 1 ]. The members of the Coronaviridae family are large RNA viruses, with enveloped viral particles ranging from 118 nm to 140 nm in diameter, bearing a single-stranded, positive RNA genome whose size ranges from 25 to 32 kb, coding for 16 non-structural and 4 structural proteins [ 2 , 3 ]. They infect a wide variety of host organisms, including birds, rodents, carnivores, bats, marine mammals, primates and, importantly, humans [ 4 , 5 ].…”

“…Four of them (HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63) usually cause only the common cold or rhinitis with mild symptoms. The other three have been responsible for outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome with significant morbidity and mortality: namely, SARS-CoV in 2002, in Guangdong, China, with 744 deaths out of 8098 infections; MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia in 2012, with 866 deaths out of 2621 infections; and SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019 and has since given rise to ongoing world-wide pandemic [ 3 , 4 ]. The first recorded cases were patients suffering from unusual viral pneumonia that, after initial ambiguities, was connected with a coronavirus of (at that time) unknown origin [ 6 ].…”

Diabetes in COVID-19 patients: challenges and possible management strategies

“…The SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome; for this, epidemiological findings, clinical manifestation, signs and symptoms, risk factors, management, and treatment were analyzed to conclude coronavirus 2) virus first emerged in Wuhan, China, back in December of 2019, which then started to spread in many countries from its site of origin [ 1 ]. In March of 2020, WHO (World Health Organization) named the disease COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) caused by highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 and declared the outbreak as a global pandemic.…”