The genome organization of the Nidovirales: similarities and differences between arteri-, toro-, and coronaviruses

Viruses in the families Arteriviridae and Coronaviridae have enveloped virions which contain nonseg-mented, positive-stranded RNA, but the constituent genera differ markedly in genetic complexity and virion structure. Nevertheless, there are striking resemblances among the viruses in the organization and expression of their genomes, and sequence conservation among the polymerase polyproteins strongly suggests that they have a common ancestry. On this basis, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses recently established a new order, Nidovirales, to contain the two families. Here, the common traits and distinguishing features of the Nidovirales are reviewed. r 1997 Academic Press KEY WORDS: arterivirus; coronavirus; torovirus; polyprotein processing; RNA recombination