The amino acid sequences of the spike proteins from three distantly related coronaviruses have been deduced from cDNA sequences. In the C-terminal half, an homology of about 30% was found, while there was no detectable sequence conservation in the N-terminal regions. Hydrophobic "heptad" repeat patterns indicated the presence of two ฮฑ-helices with predicted lengths of 100 and 50 ร…, respectively. It is suggested that, in the spike oligomer. these ฮฑ-helices form a complex coiled-coil, resembling the supersecondary structures in two other elongated membrane proteins, the haemagglutinin of influenza virus and the variable surface glycoprotein of trypanosomes. ยฉ 1987.