Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 22, 2026

Visualization of SARS-CoV-2 using Immuno RNA-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Published on: December 23, 2020
Leader sequences of coronavirus are altered during infection
1Department of Microbiology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China, lliu@pumc.edu.cn.
Abstract:
The life cycle of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) involves a unique process called discontinuous transcription by which a set of 3' coterminal subgenomic mRNAs (sgmRNA) with identical 5' leader sequences can be generated. The current study demonstrates that the replication intermediates of minus strand of subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) can be readily recovered from SARS-CoV infected cells. A novel sgmRNA (M-1) was identified as a short version of membrane (M) gene. Transcriptional regulatory sequences (TRS) of SARS-CoV and Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV) sgmRNAs contain a species specific core element (CE). The sizes of leader sequences in MHVs vary not only in different viral strains but also among different genes in the same strain. Leader alterations such as deletion and nucleotide substitution were observed in MHVs, while a dynamic one-orientation 'sequential deletion' was found among the leaders of 76 SARS-CoV isolates. These results imply that the leader sequence of coronavirus might be unstable and leader alterations during SARS-CoV transmission in humans might have negative impact on its viral infectivity.
More Related Videos
09:02Infection of Primary Nasal Epithelial Cells Grown at an Air-Liquid Interface to Characterize Human Coronavirus-Host Interactions
Published on: September 22, 2023
08:40Production of Pseudotyped Particles to Study Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses in a Biosafety Level 2 Setting
Published on: March 1, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Viral Recombination
Leaky Scanning
Retrovirus Life Cycles
Infection
The chain begins with pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, or parasites such as protozoa helminths. These can be present on the skin as transient or resident flora, or they can be acquired from the environment. Identifying and treating the type of infection and...