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