The coronavirus discontinuous transcription process implies a premature termination during the synthesis of the negative-strand RNAs and a template switch of the nascent negative strand RNA to the leader. This switch requires long-distance RNA-RNA interactions, probably assisted by RNA-protein complexes that would bring into close proximity the 5′ end TRS-L and TRS-B preceding each gene. These complexes, presumably formed prior to the template switch, might contribute to the stoppage of  negative strand  RNA synthesis  at the TRS-B.