The present volume contains the Proceedings of an EMBO Workshop organized in June 1983 by the institute of Virology, Veterinary Faculty, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Some 70 scientists from 11 countries followed the invitation to present and discuss their recent data on the structure, replication, genetics and pathogenesis of coronaviruses. It was the second international meeting on these viruses; the Workshop, which was held in Zeist near Utrecht followed the example of the Wuerzburg symposium of October 1980. At that time it became clear that coronaviruses are unique in many respects.

Once a group of viruses that were defined merely on the basis of their characteristic peplomer morphology, Coronaviridae family members are known today --to be constructed from essentially three polypeptides --to use a "nested set" of 5-6 subgenomic mRNAs in the expression of their large, positive and single stranded RNA genome, --to generate these subgenomic RNAs through specific fusion of noncontiguous sequences, --to mature by budding from intracellular membranes, --to cause persistent infection with neurological involvement and sometimes immunopathological conditions. These and many other findings have been established only very recently. The articles collected in this book reveal and/or further detail these findings. Since these Proceedings contain the combined scientific presentations of representatives from virtually all laboratories engaged in the field, they provide a fairly comprehensive review of the state of the art in coronavirology.

The contents have been grouped into two main parts. The first part deals with the molecular biology of coronaviruses and contains contributions on viral proteins, virus maturation and on the structure and replication of viral RNAs. In the second part aspects of coronavirus pathogenesis are described including studies on genetic and immunological factors involved and on persistent infections in tissue culture. Both parts are preceded by synoptic papers complied by B.W.J. Mahy and V. ter Meulen respectively.