SARS-CoV-2 spike protein fusion transformation: Difference between revisions

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein undergoes a dramatic conformational rearrangement that plays a central role in fusing the coronavirus membrane with the host cell membrane<ref name="cai-zheng">PMID: 32694201</ref>. Similar conformational transformations have been observed for the spike protein of SARS-CoV<ref name="fan">PMID: 32681106</ref> and mouse hepatitis virus<ref name="walls">PMID: 29073020</ref>, among others. These rearrangements also have much in common with the membrane fusion mechansism of influenza hemagglutinin<ref name="pabis">PMID: 32188780</ref>. The molecular scenes in this article are based on the [[cryo-EM]] pre- and post-fusion structures of SARS-CoV-2 reported July, 2020, by Cai, Zhang and coworkers with the group of Bing Chen<ref name="cai-zhang" />.