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Alphacoronavirus
Sunday 29 March 2020
| WKP |
Definition : Alphacoronaviruses (Alpha-CoV) are the first of the four genera, Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma-, and Deltacoronavirus in the subfamily Coronavirinae of the family Coronaviridae.
Coronaviruses are enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses that include both human and zoonotic species.
Within this subfamily, viruses have spherical virions with club-shaped surface projections and a core shell. The name is from the Latin corona, meaning crown, which describes the appearance of the projections seen under electron microscopy that resemble a solar corona. This genus contains what were previously considered phylogroup 1 coronaviruses.
Both the Alpha- and Betacoronavirus lineages descend from the bat gene pool.
