Via the HPA's coronavirus page: Partial genetic sequence information for scientists about the Novel Coronavirus 2012. Excerpt:
•HPA has received a number of requests about molecular diagnostics and whether broadly reactive primers will pick up this virus. The pan-coronavirus primers described by Ksiazek et al 2003 and Vijgen et al 2008 should both work.
•The World Health Organisation has convened relevant European laboratories to work collaboratively to produce clinically validated assays for real-time detection of the novel coronavirus.
•The patient clinical material that HPA has does not react with the specific detection assays which we have for OC23, 229E, NL63 or SARS.
•The whole genome of the material that is described in ProMed post#501 has been published in Genbank by Professor Ron Fouchier, Rotterdam (accession number JX869059). This sequence is based on cultured virus which has been in Rotterdam since early July.
•The sequence data that HPA has from the London case is based on direct detection in clinical material obtained at the weekend. The HPA does not yet have a virus isolate, although obviously clinical material is already in tissue culture in an attempt to make isolates from the London case.
•HPA welcomes offers of reagents or information from scientists working in this area which may be useful in this situation.
•A rapid communication paper has been published in Eurosurveillance: Detection of a novel human coronavirus by real-time reverse –transcription polymerase chain reaction available at: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20285.
