During the formation of the coronaviral replication/transcription complex, essential steps include processing of the conserved polyprotein nsp7-10 region by the main protease Mpro and subsequent complex formation of the released nsp's. Upon infecting host cells, coronaviruses assemble a multi-subunit RNA-synthesis complex of viral non-structural proteins (nsp) responsible for the replication and transcription of the viral genome. non-structural proteins 7 (NSP7) forms a hexadecamer with nsp8 (8 subunits of each) that may participate in viral replication by acting as a primase. Alternatively, may synthesize substantially longer products than oligonucleotide primers.