The spike protein of the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 has been found to change its form once it attaches itself to the human cell. Researchers have found that once the coronavirus binds itself to the human cell with the help of these spike proteins, the proteins fold in on themselves to take a rigid hairpin shape, a report in IE stated.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020
Key-Points
The research has been published in Science journal, and the authors hope the knowledge would aid in the development of vaccines against the virus.
It is a protein that protrudes from the surface of a coronavirus, like the spikes of a crown or corona — hence the name ‘coronavirus’.
In the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it is the spike protein that initiates the process of infection in a human cell.
It attaches itself to a human enzyme, called the ACE2 receptor, before going on to enter the cell and make multiple copies of itself.
