Since January 2020, Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource center with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus. The resource center is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database, with unrestricted research reuse and analyses, provided that the original source is acknowledged. The article "Unique and Conserved Features of Genome and Proteome of SARS-coronavirus, an Early Split-off From the Coronavirus Group 2 Lineage" by Eric J. Snijder et al. provides insights into the genome organization and expression strategy of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The study identifies 14 putative open reading frames, 12 of which are predicted to be expressed from a nested set of eight subgenomic mRNAs. The synthesis of these mRNAs is confirmed experimentally. The 4382- and 7073 amino acid residue SARS-CoV replicase polyproteins are predicted to be cleaved into 16 subunits by two viral proteinases, bringing the total number of SARS-CoV proteins to 28. Phylogenetic analysis shows that SARS-CoV is most closely related to group 2 coronaviruses, with several unique features. The study also identifies distant homologs of cellular RNA processing enzymes in group 2 coronaviruses, with four conserved in SARS-CoV. These enzymes will be important targets for antiviral strategies aimed at controlling the spread of SARS-CoV.Since January 2020, Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource center with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus. The resource center is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database, with unrestricted research reuse and analyses, provided that the original source is acknowledged. The article "Unique and Conserved Features of Genome and Proteome of SARS-coronavirus, an Early Split-off From the Coronavirus Group 2 Lineage" by Eric J. Snijder et al. provides insights into the genome organization and expression strategy of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The study identifies 14 putative open reading frames, 12 of which are predicted to be expressed from a nested set of eight subgenomic mRNAs. The synthesis of these mRNAs is confirmed experimentally. The 4382- and 7073 amino acid residue SARS-CoV replicase polyproteins are predicted to be cleaved into 16 subunits by two viral proteinases, bringing the total number of SARS-CoV proteins to 28. Phylogenetic analysis shows that SARS-CoV is most closely related to group 2 coronaviruses, with several unique features. The study also identifies distant homologs of cellular RNA processing enzymes in group 2 coronaviruses, with four conserved in SARS-CoV. These enzymes will be important targets for antiviral strategies aimed at controlling the spread of SARS-CoV.