Perspectives and Challenges in Coronavirus Research

Dear Colleagues,

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are the most complex positive-sense single-stranded RNA (ssRNA+) viruses and cause acute self-limited and often fatal diseases in animals including humans. Since their discovery more than 50 years ago, some CoVs have been studied because of their veterinary relevance; other CoVs are considered useful models for human diseases such as neuroinflammation, multiple sclerosis, and hepatitis. Human CoVs are associated with mild respiratory tract disease and cause 30% of common cold in season. Just a decade ago a novel CoV was identified as the etiological agent of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the first pandemic of the 21st century. The identification of SARS-CoV has been a driver for the surge in CoV research in recent years. This special issue will contain reviews and original research papers on CoVs cross-species transmission, virus entry, replication and assembly, virus-host interactions, innate and adaptative immunity, pathogenesis, antivirals, vaccines and newly identified CoVs. We hope in this issue to capture the scope of these exciting developments and to provide perspectives and challenges in CoV research.

Dr. Sonia Navas-Martin
Guest Editor