sars8

SARS 8a is a short 80 amino acid protein. In some SARS strains (such as Urbani and Tor2), sars8 exists as two separate ORFs, sars8a and sars8b, whereas in others (such as GZ02) it occurs as a single ORF. Earlier postulations by various groups that the 29-bp deletion resulting in the split ORF may have a role in replication and/or pathogenesis have been recently ruled out. The actual function of this protein is still unknown.

Yount B, Roberts RS, Sims AC, Deming D, Frieman MB, Sparks J, Denison MR, Davis N, Baric RS.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus group-specific open reading frames encode nonessential functions for replication in cell cultures and mice. J Virol. 2005 Dec;79(23):14909-22.

Snijder EJ, Bredenbeek PJ, Dobbe JC, Thiel V, Ziebuhr J, Poon LL, Guan Y, Rozanov M, Spaan WJ, Gorbalenya AE. Unique and conserved features of genome and proteome of SARS-coronavirus, an early split-off from the coronavirus group 2 lineage. J Mol Biol. 2003 Aug 29;331(5):991-1004.