tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Nat Rev Microbiol
. 2025 May 6.
doi: 10.1038/s41579-025-01185-8. Online ahead of print. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: structure, viral entry and variants
Bing Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael Farzan[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Hyeryun Choe[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a devastating global pandemic for 4 years and is now an endemic disease. With the emergence of new viral variants, COVID-19 is a continuing threat to public health despite the wide availability of vaccines. The virus-encoded trimeric spike protein (S protein) mediates SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells and also induces strong immune responses, making it an important target for development of therapeutics and vaccines. In this Review, we summarize our latest understanding of the structure and function of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein, the molecular mechanism of viral entry and the emergence of new variants, and we discuss their implications for development of S protein-related intervention strategies.
. 2025 May 6.
doi: 10.1038/s41579-025-01185-8. Online ahead of print. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: structure, viral entry and variants
Bing Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Michael Farzan[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Hyeryun Choe[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 40328900
- DOI: 10.1038/s41579-025-01185-8
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a devastating global pandemic for 4 years and is now an endemic disease. With the emergence of new viral variants, COVID-19 is a continuing threat to public health despite the wide availability of vaccines. The virus-encoded trimeric spike protein (S protein) mediates SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells and also induces strong immune responses, making it an important target for development of therapeutics and vaccines. In this Review, we summarize our latest understanding of the structure and function of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein, the molecular mechanism of viral entry and the emergence of new variants, and we discuss their implications for development of S protein-related intervention strategies.