Open AccessBinding and entering: COVID finds a new home
Author(s) -
Michelle N Vu,
Vineet D. Menachery
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos pathogens
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.719
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1553-7374
pISSN - 1553-7366
DOI - 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009857
Subject(s) - coronavirus , transmissibility (structural dynamics) , virology , middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus , covid-19 , pandemic , virus , middle east respiratory syndrome , severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus , biology , protease , betacoronavirus , medicine , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , enzyme , biochemistry , physics , disease , vibration isolation , quantum mechanics , vibration
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged as a virus with a pathogenicity closer to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and a transmissibility similar to common cold coronaviruses (CoVs). In this review, we briefly discuss the features of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and protease cleavage of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that enable SARS-CoV-2 to be a pandemic virus.