Software engineering

Virology

Chemistry

Coronavirus

Lipid bilayer fusion

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Biochemistry

Receptor

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Virus

Disease

Spike (software development)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Biology

Biophysics

Protein structure

Cell biology

Ectodomain

Computer science

Cryo-electron microscopy

Spike Protein

Pathology

Medicine

Science

A dynamic viral spike Efforts to protect human cells against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have focused on the trimeric spike (S) protein. Several structures have shown a stabilized ectodomain of the spike in its prefusion conformation. Cai et al. now provide insight into the structural changes in the S protein that result in the fusion of the viral and host cell membranes. They purified full-length S protein and determined cryo–electron microscopy structures of both the prefusion and postfusion conformations. These structures add to our understanding of S protein function and could inform vaccine design. Science , this issue p. 1586

Distinct conformational states of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein