Coronaviruses are positive RNA viruses with a diameter of approximately 80-160 nm. The name itself derives from the visual image of individual virus cells as seen by an electron microscope; these cells have a spiky appearance similar to the corona of the sun. This aspect is represented by the glycoprotein that crosses the viral envelope, reaching the protein "coat", called protein S, with hemagglutination and melting properties. The virus structure is more or less typical of coated viruses, therefore it has a helicoidal symmetry nucleocapsid and a pericapsid consisting of a double phospholipid layer of cellular origin; between these two layers there is a protein coat consisting of the M protein (matrix or matrix). In the nucleocapsid is found the genome consisting of an ssRNA + (a single RNA strand with positive polarity) of 27-30 kilo bases which codes for 7 viral proteins and is associated with the protein N. | Coronaviruses are positive RNA viruses with a diameter of approximately 80-160 nm. The name itself derives from the visual image of individual virus cells as seen by an electron microscope; these cells have a spiky appearance similar to the corona of the sun. This aspect is represented by the glycoprotein that crosses the viral envelope, reaching the protein "coat", called protein S, with hemagglutination and melting properties. The virus structure is more or less typical of coated viruses, therefore it has a helicoidal symmetry nucleocapsid and a pericapsid consisting of a double phospholipid layer of cellular origin; between these two layers there is a protein coat consisting of the M protein (matrix or matrix). In the nucleocapsid is found the genome consisting of an ssRNA + (a single RNA strand with positive polarity) of 27-30 kilo bases which codes for 7 viral proteins and is associated with the protein N. |