What Coronavirus looks under Electron Microscope: ICMR scientists release images

Pune: Scientists at ICMR have now revealed the first set of images to show what the coronavirus looks like under the microscope. The images have been captured using a transmission electron microscope and have been published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.

 The images of the coronavirus have been taken by a team of ICMR-NIV scientists in Pune. 

The images of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are from the throat swab of the first laboratory confirmed case in India reported on January 30. The woman, among three students studying medicine in Wuhan in China, was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning to India.

The gene sequencing of the samples from Kerala done at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune found that the virus was a 99.98 per cent match with the virus in Wuhan.

The image revealed the presence of stalk-like projections ending in round structures typical of a coronavirus particle.

"In summary, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report from India detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus using TEM directly in a throat swab specimen confirmed by PCR..." the study said.

The article titled "Transmission electron microscopy imaging of SARS-CoV-2" has been authored by the ICMR-NIV National Influenza Centre Team. The authors include Atanu Basu, deputy director and head of electron microscopy and pathology at NIV Pune.

According to the article, one particular virus particle was very well preserved, showing features very typical of coronaviruses. These bind only to certain receptors on the host cell.

According to the study, the description of a novel human coronavirus, initially referred to as the Wuhan coronavirus (CoV), is currently designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 as per the latest International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) classification. It is probably the most recent human pneumonia virus with high outbreak potential.

This novel virus was initially identified through next-generation sequencing (NGS) and was suggested to have a possible zoonotic origin. Till date, detailed morphology and ultrastructure of this virus remains incompletely understood.