Viruses are infectious organic structures that spread by transmission and can only multiply within a suitable host cell. To understand how new viruses are created, it is necessary to determine the position of the individual genes precisely and comprehensively and to clarify what these genes do. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has found a previously hidden gene that may have contributed to the unique biology of SARS-CoV-2 and thus to its rapid spread.