Características virológicas y diagnóstico del SARS-CoV-2

On December 31, 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology was detected in the city of Wuhan (China). A week later, a new coronavirus, initially designated as 2019-nCoV and later SARS-CoV-2, was isolated from these patients. This virus belongs to the genus Coronavirus and subgenus Sarbecovirus (beta-coronavirus, beta-2b). It has a single-stranded RNA genome of about 30,000 nucleotides and six ORFs. The main protein, both functional (cellular ACE2 receptor binding) and immunogenic, is the so-called S or spicule, being the basis for diagnosis and the future vaccine. SARS-CoV-2 has wild bats as its natural reservoir and the pangolin is postulated as a possible intermediate host. The S protein of the new coronavirus presents