Morphology

MORPHOLOGY
  • The virions are enveloped; spherical to pleomorphic with 40-60 nm in diameter.
  • The surface projections are prominent with distinctive spikes surrounded by a prominent fringe. Surface projections also form ring-like subunits.
  • The virions consist of structural protein (s), nucleocapsid (C), matrix (M) glycoprotein (E) and a non-structural (NS) protein. 
  • The nucleocapsid is round and exhibits polyhedral symmetry. The genetic material comprises of a single molecule non-segmented linear positive-sense single-stranded RNA.
  • The complete genome is 12,500 nucleotides long. The 5'-end of the genome has a cap, and the 3'-terminus has no poly (A) tail.
Last modified: Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 11:27 AM