Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the COVID19 pandemic, is a highly pathogenic β-coronavirus. As other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is enveloped, replicates in the cytoplasm and assembles at intracellular membranes. Here, we structurally characterize the viral replication compartment and report critical insights into the budding mechanism of the virus, and the structure of extracellular virions close to their native state by in situ cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging. We directly visualize RNA filaments inside the double membrane vesicles, compartments associated with viral replication. The RNA filaments show a diameter consistent with double-stranded RNA and frequent branching likely representing RNA secondary structures. We report that assembled S trimers in lumenal cisternae do not alone induce membrane bending but laterally reorganize on the envelope during virion assembly. The viral ribonucleoprotein complexes (vRNPs) are accumulated at the curved membrane characteristic for budding sites suggesting that vRNP recruitment is enhanced by membrane curvature. Subtomogram averaging shows that vRNPs are distinct cylindrical assemblies. We propose that the genome is packaged around multiple separate vRNP complexes, thereby allowing incorporation of the unusually large coronavirus genome into the virion while maintaining high steric flexibility between the vRNPs.

A global concern has emerged with the pandemic spread of Zika virus (ZIKV) infections that can cause severe neurological symptoms in adults and newborns. ZIKV is a positive-strand RNA virus replicating in virus-induced membranous replication factories (RFs). Here we used various imaging techniques to investigate the ultrastructural details of ZIKV RFs and their relationship with host cell organelles. Analyses of human hepatic cells and neural progenitor cells infected with ZIKV revealed endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane invaginations containing pore-like openings toward the cytosol, reminiscent to RFs in Dengue virus-infected cells. Both the MR766 African strain and the H/PF/2013 Asian strain, the latter linked to neurological diseases, induce RFs of similar architecture. Importantly, ZIKV infection causes a drastic reorganization of microtubules and intermediate filaments forming cage-like structures surrounding the viral RF. Consistently, ZIKV replication is suppressed by cytoskeleton-targeting drugs. Thus, ZIKV RFs are tightly linked to rearrangements of the host cell cytoskeleton.