9.4 SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein is responsible for antigenicity

Cell entry is one of the most crucial components of cross-species transmission, particularly, for the beta-cronaviruses. All CoVs cipher a surface glycoprotein, spike that comes in contact with the receptor of the host cell and mediates viral entry.47 In case of beta-coronaviruses, the only region which is present in spike proteins called the receptor- binding domain (RBD) interacts with the host cell receptor. When it binds with the receptor the spike, is being cleaved by an adjacent host protease and releases the spike fusion peptide, and aid in virus entry.67-70