Two teams of researchers have sequenced the genome of two strains of the virus believed to be responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Their results confirm the suspicion that it is a previously unknown coronavirus. Knowledge of the genome, which has been made publicly available, should help in designing new diagnostic tests and eventually a vaccine.

Both teams report their findings in the current issue of the journal Science, which has made the articles freely available on the internet.

Because of the urgency of the problem, the …