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Coronaviruses’ visual hallmarks, those nubby protrusions sticking out in every direction, are the keys they use to enter cells. These so-called spike proteins bind to cells—in the case of SARS-CoV-2, human cells—to launch infection. To prevent that from happening, scientists around the world are focusing on the spike to reveal how it works, and find potential weaknesses to exploit.
The spike structure itself is actually made up of three proteins. At the top lies the point at which the viral particle grasps an enzyme on the surface of human cells known as the ACE2 receptor.
This point must be in an “open” or “up” position, flexed and ready to attach itself to the host cell receptor, says Rommie Amaro, a biophysical chemist at the University of California, San Diego. An animation posted online by Greg Bowman, a biophysicist at Washington University School of Medicine, reveals that ...
