Composition of the Genome and Molecular Basis of Pathogenesis
The genome of SARS-CoV-2 varies from approximately 26 to 32 kilobases
and contains 14 open reading frames (ORFs). The longest ORF at the 5’
terminus that represents the major portion of the genome (67%) encodes
16 non-structural proteins, while the 3’ terminus encodes structural
proteins [11]. Of them, the membrane protein (M), nucleocapsid
protein (N), envelope protein (E) and spike glycoprotein (S) are the
four main structural proteins shown in Figure 01 .