Lipid bilayer fusion

Protein subunit

Gene

Viral replication

Pathology

Virology

Receptor

Virus

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2

Coronavirus

Disease

Drug

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

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Protein structure

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Biochemistry

Viral entry

Bioinformatics

Drug development

Computational biology

Medicine

Drug discovery

Biology

Pharmacology

Acta Pharmacologica Sinica

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a newly emerging infectious disease currently spreading across the world. It is caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, which plays a key role in the receptor recognition and cell membrane fusion process, is composed of two subunits, S1 and S2. The S1 subunit contains a receptor-binding domain that recognizes and binds to the host receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, while the S2 subunit mediates viral cell membrane fusion by forming a six-helical bundle via the two-heptad repeat domain. In this review, we highlight recent research advance in the structure, function and development of antivirus drugs targeting the S protein.

Structural and functional properties of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: potential antivirus drug development for COVID-19